The Strangest Quest Ever
by ch0c0late.chip.c00kie
Summary: After an incident that left Thalia heartbroken, she had left the States and moved back to her country of birth, Canada. However, two years later, she's been called back to the U.S. to go on a quest along with Nico and Percy to look for a creature of power
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I know it's been a while, but I had this idea hit me a couple times, and it just won't leave me alone until I finally write it down somewhere. Sooooo yeah...that's about it i guess :P**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, however, I do own the plot of this story as well as the OCs.**

**PROLOUGE**

Thalia shamefully stared at the ground beneath her. She could feel Artemis's disappointed look burning onto her.

She had broken her oath. She had lost her virginity. She lost everything that she had worked to gain the very moment that she had succumbed to her lust. She could always say that she had gotten drunk while celebrating Olympus's victory, but no one would believe her. The Hunters of Artemis, much less the _Lieutenant_, had been forbidden from such a substance, even if it was during a celebration.

It took her a while for her to work up the courage and tell Artemis of what she had done. For a while, Thalia had been utterly _terrified_ of what the consequences are going to be. She hoped that whatever it is, she won't be turned into an animal and then be hunted down.

"Who was it, Thalia?" She heard Artemis asked. Thalia didn't dare look at the goddess.

"It…It was Apollo…" As soon as the name left her lips, she immediately felt the goddess's anger. Thalia _prayed_ that she won't be turned into an animal and then be hunted down. Then again, there was a goddess right in front of her, and she could probably hear that.

Artemis sighed.

It always happens to the best ones, she thought. They either get killed or they break their oath.

"I'm going to _kill_ him for this…" Thalia heard the goddess mutter to herself.

"I'm sorry about what happened, Thalia," The said demi-god could hear a genuine apologetic tone in Artemis's voice, "And I'm even sorrier that it was with my brother, but you had willingly broken oath, and for that I cannot forgive." Thalia felt tears prick her eyes.

Here it comes, Thalia thought, just a few more words before I'm actually out.

"Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, you are dismissed from the Hunt. My blessing and your immortality have been removed. You are now mortal." Thalia had to bite back a sob that threatened to spill.

"I suggest that you pack your things immediately and say your good byes before heading off to Camp." Artemis said.

Thalia stayed silent for a moment. She didn't want to go back to Camp. As nice as it is to see Annabeth and Percy and all her friends there, she felt as though that she shouldn't. She doesn't want everyone to find out that she had been kicked out of the Hunt, and for the other campers to put two and two together and assume that she had lost her virginity. Thalia doesn't want to go through even more shame. She doesn't want them to know, and knowing the Aphrodite girls, they won't leave her alone until she told them who she lost it to, and _they_ would go and tell the entire camp. She just couldn't go through that.

"I…I'm not going back to camp." Thalia could feel Artemis's surprise.

"Where will you go?" She asked.

Thalia hadn't thought about it. There was always her mother's house, but she swore that she'll never set foot inside the city in which the house is located. Thalia didn't really know where she would go after this, but there is one place that she could always go back to, no matter what happens…

"I'm going back to Canada." Thalia replied.

Contrary to popular belief, she was actually born there. Her mother was originally a Canadian actress for a small TV show, but took on a better acting job in the States, and only went back to Canada to visit her best friend. She never had a good relationship with Thalia's grandparents, and they disowned her when they found out that she wanted to become an actress.

While her mother was around eight and a half months pregnant, she decided to visit her friend. That weekend, she gave birth to Thalia, thus automatically making her a Canadian citizen. When she was a couple months old, she moved back to the States, and a few years later, she had officially become an American citizen as well.

It was silent for a few moments before Artemis spoke once more.

"Tell me, is there any reason why you want to leave the country?" Artemis asked. Thalia thought for a moment.

"I guess it's because I was actually born there, and it's only fitting that I go back. My mother's best friend, Emma, she lives there as well, and it would be nice to see her again." Thalia replied. That was _one_ of her reasons, a smaller one, but still a reason none the less.

"Are you going to be staying there permanently?" Again, Thalia thought about it for a moment.

She could go to school, get back into contact with her godmother, and maybe, just maybe, she could try to live a normal, mortal life. A life away from monsters, away from the stressful life of a demi-god, and if possible, maybe even away from Apollo. The thought of being away from all these things was so tempting.

There really isn't much left for her here. Now that Thalia thought about it, at first it was her baby brother Jason—who was also born in the same country—that kept her here, but after that incident in the park that resulted in his death… Thalia pushed the thoughts of her baby brother out of her mind.

There was Luke and Annabeth, but with Luke being dead and Annabeth having Percy, she could tell that the two don't really need her as much before. Then again, it was painfully obvious that Luke doesn't need her anymore seeing as he's dead.

Then there's the Hunt, but that obviously wasn't a choice anymore, and after catching him with that nymph, Apollo was also off that list. Her mother was dead, and her dad is the Lord of the Sky who hadn't done much to help her in her life…

So maybe leaving would be good for her. She could have a fresh start.

"Yeah…I think I will." Thalia finally answered.

Artemis nodded, saddened that not only did she have to dismiss one of her best lieutenants; she also has to see her leave the country. Leaving Olympus's host country meant that the gods can't reach a mortal without knowing exactly where they were. Artemis could understand her reasons why, but that doesn't mean that she would be sad about it.

Yes, she confirmed in her mind, I'm definitely going to kill Apollo for this.

"Do you have everything that you will need for you to go there?" Artemis asked for the last time.

"I only have my mother's will, that's about it, I guess." Thalia replied.

"Thalia, look at me." For the whole time, Thalia had been kneeling on the ground, and keeping her head down. The black haired demi-god nervously raised her head, and met the piercing silver gaze of the moon goddess.

Artemis looked at her former lieutenant, and she saw worry, and fear in them. She suddenly felt a surge of pity for the girl. Artemis knew that the journey ahead of Thalia will be hard.

It would be even harder if she's still fifteen. She thought. And if she doesn't have all the proper documents that mortals will require.

"I want to give you something for your journey." She said with finality.

Thalia looked at the goddess before her with wide, confused eyes. She was speechless.

"Rise, and I suggest you close your eyes for this." Thalia immediately stood, and shut her eyes tightly. She suddenly felt like she was stretched, pulled and tugged in all sorts of different directions. As soon as this feeling came, it went away just as fast.

"You may open your eyes now." She heard Artemis say. Thalia opened her eyes, and saw Artemis smile sadly at her work.

"I have sped up your aging process, and made you your actual age of twenty one, and all of the important documents that you will need is already inside your bag." Thalia had to force herself not to gap at what the goddess had done for her.

"Th-Thank you… How can I repay you?" Thalia asked.

"Just don't tell the Hunters of what I'd done. I don't want them getting any ideas." Artemis said. Thalia nodded, before bowing before her for the last time. She turned and silently walked over to the exit of Artemis's tent.

"Oh and Thalia?" The said demi-goddess paused and looked over her shoulder to Artemis. The auburn haired goddess smiled sadly at her once more.

"If it will bring you any comfort, I won't breathe a word about your whereabouts to anyone." Artemis offered, putting only a slight emphasis on 'anyone,' knowing that Thalia knew who she meant. Thalia smiled gratefully at the goddess.

"Thank you, again Lady." Thalia said. She turned her head to face ahead of her and exited the tent, before rushing inside her own.

She went to her bag, and sure enough, she found all of the documents that she'll need, like her mother's will, her birth certificate, her passport, _everything_. Thalia quickly packed up the rest of her possessions and silently—but quickly—she took down her tent and exited the camp site as fast as she can without waking up anyone.

Thalia didn't know how long she had been walking through the woods, but she really didn't care.

All of her thoughts are one big jumbled mess. She can't focus on one thought without another one butting in, and replacing it.

Should she tell Annabeth and everyone else back at camp that she won't be going back? Should she tell them about what happened? Should she tell anyone for that matter? Even Apollo?

Thalia didn't know why she managed to think about Apollo, nor does she know how to answer these questions. With all her thoughts jumbled up, she can't think properly.

"I need some sleep." She muttered to herself. As she continued walking through the woods, her mind began to wander.

During the victory celebration after Kronos's downfall, Thalia had snuck away with Apollo, and one thing led to another, and then _that_ happened. That incident had happened a few months ago. As soon as she realized what she had done, she wanted to tell Artemis about this whole ordeal, but never found the courage to do so.

Apollo, Thalia's hands began clenching, the last time she had seen him was the month before and he was busy making out with a mortal girl that was a tad bit younger than her. That had been the main reason why she had told Artemis about her mistake. She's just glad that she hadn't been turned into an animal. Knowing Apollo, he probably might not even help her.

She soon came upon a pathway that led out of the forest that the Hunt had been occupying, and from where Thalia is standing, she could see some lights from a city. Thalia stepped onto the path and began her journey towards the city. The journey ahead of her is going to be a long and difficult one, but she hopes that by the time she reaches the end, it'll be worth it all the trouble that she knew that she'll be going through.

_**Two years later…**_

**October, 1, 2011, Downtown Toronto, Thalia's apartment**

Twenty three year old Thalia Grace sighed tiredly as she opened her apartment, after a long day at work all she wanted to do was just relax and not do anything but sleep. At first, she was thankful that she didn't have any classes for her to attend to, but she now wishes that she had. Working overtime had really done something to her.

Thalia had miraculously gotten a nice, well paying job at a historical museum, and worked as a guide there. With all her time spent with Artemis, she learned things that normal students her age would learn years ahead from now. If she were still fifteen, she would've been in AP for all of her subjects.

On the first day of her job, her supervisor had been skeptical about Thalia's vast knowledge of the Ancient Greeks, but now, she loves having Thalia around, after she had seen her talk about things so accurately, and managed to keep the kids' attention and keep them interested just so that they won't be running around and touching the things that they weren't supposed to.

Thalia closed the door, and locked it. She lazily tossed her bag on the floor, thankful that her computer was not in it. Thalia trudged tiredly to her bed and plopped down. A lot of things happened since she decided to come back to Canada.

She managed to get the money left in her mother's will. She used the money to buy herself a really nice bachelor's apartment near the museum that she worked, and her school. With her godmother's—Emma's—insistence, she had also managed to get into one of the top schools in the country, after she had passed the GED exam with flying colours of course. To her, it was like tracking a deer, which was probably the easiest animal to hunt, in her opinion, no disrespect to Artemis or anything.

After starting her first semester at the university, she found that she is surprisingly good at physics, more specifically, atmospheric physics and astrophysics. Thalia figured that she being the daughter of the King of the skies, it would come naturally to her. That's only a theory though. Her major is atmospheric physics, since it focuses more on climate change. Emma had also insisted that she take a course that would make her keep in touch with her heritage, so she also took a classics course.

Emma is a half-blood herself, so she knew everything there is about the gods, well, as much as any other half-blood knows. She's a daughter of Iris, and her mother's best friend, the same woman that her mother had been visiting when she gave birth to Thalia.

Thalia yawned tiredly as she grabbed her TV remote and flipped to the weather channel.

After her first couple of weeks there, she learned from Emma that half-bloods who live outside of Olympus's host country rarely get attacked, even if the said demi-god is a child of one of the Big Three. The only time that monsters do attack is when there is more than one child of the Big Three travelling together. And seeing as she's the only child of the Big Three in the country, there won't be any monsters attacking at all. The last time she had been attacked by a monster would have been six months ago.

With all the rare monster attacks, that meant she can use any sort of modern technology without sending any signal to any nearby monster to come and eat her. She can live out her days as a normal mortal woman with ADHD and dyslexia.

Although, she thought, it would be a lot easier if I didn't have dyslexia in the first place.

She just laid there, relaxing, when all of sudden, she heard the meteorologists voice break into her thoughts.

"…_and tomorrow will be sixteen degrees…_" He said. Thalia really didn't care about the weather, it was nice enough anyway.

She sighed and ran a hand through her bangs, pushing them out of the way as she stood up and began changing into her pyjamas.

She pulled out some fresh underwear, a light blue wife beater shirt, and navy jogging pants. Thalia began walking over to her bed as she reached up and took her hair out of the pony tail, and stopped in front of a mirror, looking at all the changes that had taken place while staying here.

Her hair had grown, now reaching two inches below her shoulders. It was now layered and had side bangs that framed her face nicely. The inner layers of her hair have been died blue, and it suited her, surprisingly. She no longer had any freckles on her tanned face, and her eyes. Out of all the changes that had happened to her, it was her eyes that changed the most. It's still electric blue, but that only happens when her eyes are out of any bright lights. When it is under bright lights, they become sky blue, like the kind of blue in the horizon on a bright and sunny day.

She also just happened to grow a couple more inches, making her quite tall for her age, which was about 5'11 and a half at most. She had also filled out more in certain places, and shrunk in others. Though she wouldn't admit it, she became very beautiful over the two years.

She had not only changed physically, but personality wise as well. She's still into the punk style, but not as much as when she was younger. Thalia still wore a lot of black, but now added different colours to it, mostly blue and purple, and the occasional white.

With the stress of not being hunted down every day by monsters, she loosened up a bit more, and became more open to others, just a little bit. During her second month at the university, she made some friends who didn't mind her mysterious past and demeanor and took her in with open arms. She laughed more often, and smiled as well, but there seemed to be something missing.

Thalia quickly looked away from the mirror and flopped down onto her bed once more. She grabbed her laptop and logged on, wanting to finish an essay as soon as she can. It was a pain, but after she graduates in two years, then it'll be worth it.

After graduating, maybe, just maybe, she'll go back to the States, not to stay there, but just to visit her friends, and pray that they won't kill her. Although, one could say that her friends would have a right do so.

Truth be told, she had forgotten about telling anyone at camp. She had been so stressed out with school, her mother's will, supporting herself, and what not, she had forgotten to Iris-message them. She was going to do so and talk to Annabeth, before Emma had told her that Iris-Messaging doesn't work outside of the host country. So she was going to call her, but then realized that Annabeth had told her that she had gotten a new number, and Thalia couldn't remember what the number was.

Thalia shook her head, clearing her head of any memories that she didn't really want to remember at the moment and opened up the file that contained the essay that she needed to finish. She was going to start typing, before she realized that she needed her notes. The black haired demi-goddess sighed, and got up from her comfortable bed, and grabbed her messenger bag. She took out her notes, which were all written in Ancient Greek, before she had finally begun typing up the essay that needed to be finished.

It took her about two hours for her to finish writing the essay, and when she had, she had felt relief as soon as she sent the essay to her professor. For the first time in a while, she doesn't have any work for her to do.

Thalia smiled and closed her saved copy, and went on the internet. She needed to do something, while being lazy for the next little while.

She spent the next little while just randomly going on different sites, when all of a sudden her phone rang.

Thalia reached out and grabbed her cell, and answered with a lazy "Talk to me,"

"Thaliaaaa!" It was her friend Kayla, fun, but seriously annoying, yet lovable Kayla.

"Hey Kales." Thalia replied.

"You'll never guess what I found out!" The girl on the other end of the line said, while giggling.

"Lemme guess, you found out that your plan on getting Liz and Kenny together actually worked?" Thalia replied, while a smirk played on her lips.

"Yup! But that's not what I was gonna tell you." Kayla replied.

Thalia raised a brow, despite knowing that Kayla can't see her. As if she sensed her confusion, Kayla went on ahead.

"You know Nick Saunders? Of course you do, you met him once!" Truthfully, Thalia can't remember who he is, but let her friend continue.

"So anyways, apparently he throws all these awesome parties every month, and guess who got the gang invites?" Kayla squealed.

"You did?" Here Kayla laughed.

"Nope, not me, it was actually Mark, whose actually really good friends with Nick. So he pulled out a couple favors, and Mark got you, me, Liz, and Michelle invites!" Kayla said. Thalia blinked.

"And it's this Saturday night, and I _know_ you don't have work or classes that night, and you told me yourself that you never study on Saturday nights, so you have no excuse not to come!" Kayla continued before Thalia could say anything.

"Please Thaliaaaa?" Kayla pleaded, and Thalia could practically hear the sad puppy look on her. Thalia sighed and gave in. Knowing Kayla, she won't leave her alone about this, and on the day of the party, she'll barg into her apartment and then she will force her to come.

Kayla squealed excitedly.

"I'm gonna go over to your place and we'll get ready then, oh and I hope you don't mind if I bring Liz and Michelle with me." Kayla said.

"Why my place?" Thalia demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Your place is closest to Nick Saunders's place." She replied. That made sense.

"Fine." Thalia sighed.

"Great! See ya soon then!" Kayla said as she hung up. Thalia pressed the end button, and already she started to regret going to this party.

It's too bad that she didn't know that if she went to this party, it will make her life turn in a completely different direction, one that no one would have seen in the long run. By going to this party, it will determine whether her life would be happy and full, or content and will always have the feeling of something being missing.

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**Hey, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! **

** REVEIW PLEASE! oh and no flames please... :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Here's chapter 2 of my story :P**

**hope you like it :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, however, I do own the plot and the OCs.**

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October, 8, 2010, with Thalia

It was the night of the party, and Thalia was sitting on her bed, eating a cheeseburger for dinner, while watching TV.

She was hoping that Kayla would've forgotten about coming over to her place, and making her get ready for the party. She wasn't that much of a party person to be honest.

Thalia took one last large bite out of her burger, thus finishing her dinner. As soon as she had done that, she heard banging on her door, startling her slightly, and someone yelling.

"Thalia! Open the door! Our arms are about to fall off!" Thalia swallowed, and got off her bed.

She remembered, she thought sarcastically.

She opened the door and saw her friends, Kayla, Michelle and Liz at the door, all three of them holding cardboard boxes. Thalia raised a brow at the three of them, as she stepped to the side, letting the three of them enter.

The first who entered was Kayla. She has pin straight, dirty blonde hair that was in a medium length pixie cut style, ending at her jaw line. She has large, and yet soft hazel eyes, and has a small build.

The second person who entered was her friend Michelle. She has long, layered wavy brown hair that ended at the small of her back. She has deep brown eyes, and wore a pair of black rimmed glasses. Michelle looked at Thalia with an apologetic yet sheepish look on her face. Thalia rolled her eyes and smiled at her.

And the last person to enter was Liz. She has curly red hair that ended at her shoulders, and bright green eyes. Out of all her friends here, Liz reminds Thalia of Camp the most, seeing as she looks like their oracle, Rachel. The two are around the same height, build, same looks.

Come to think of it, Thalia mused, they even have the same name.

Rachel's middle name is Liz's first name. Thalia found that a little creepy for some reason. The main difference between the two is that one is five years older than the other, and the older one isn't into the same things as the other, a fact that she's slightly thankful for.

She watched as her three friends from university dropped their things on the floor.

Kayla turned to face Thalia with an excited grin.

"Well girls, let's start getting ready." Thalia had to bite back a groan, and by the looks of Liz and Michelle, it looks like they were thinking the same thing as Thalia.

Out of the four of them, Kayla is into fashion, boys and gossiping the most. Thalia highly doubted anyone would believe her if she told anyone about her, then mention that she's studying politics and economics.

After three hours of changing, showering, masks, manicures, pedicures, waxing, arguing, threats, tears of pain, makeup and hair styling, the four girls are finally ready.

Thalia looked at herself in the mirror, unable to decide whether or not to like the outfit that Liz and Kayla had forced her into.

She wore a satin blue dress that had a deep v-neckline, and the hem ended at mid thigh. The straps have gleaming jeweled buckles and the straps themselves twist in the back, exposing her back completely. Her hair has been straightened; making her blue streaks stand out in her hair, and making it seem longer. Her electric blue eyes are outlined with black eyeliner, and have light blue eye shadow on her eye lids. She wore dark blue heeled shoes that made her even taller, maybe six feet, and has thick blue bracelets adorning her wrists.

"I'm wearing a lot of blue." She said unintentionally as she turned around to face her friends, who have also gotten ready. Kayla rolled her eyes.

"Well duh. You look good in blue." She said as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Thalia didn't reply to that.

"Guys, let's go! The party starts in five minutes." Liz exclaims. Everyone grabbed their bags and exited Thalia's apartment, and headed towards the elevator. It was silent for just a moment before Michelle broke it.

"Wait, how're we gonna get there?" Michelle quickly asked.

"I'll drive us there, but someone's gonna have to give me the direction." Thalia volunteered.

"I have the directions written down here." Kayla said as she took out a small note pad and ripped off a certain page, and gave it to Thalia, who just nodded approvingly.

The four of them finally got to the parking lot under the building, and found Thalia's recently bought car, a black 2011 Acura TSX. It was a really nice car that was within her budget and sturdy enough for long distance driving.

After about ten minutes, Thalia pulled up in a driveway that had a lot of people her age outside, and loud music pouring from the inside.

The four of them got out of the car, and headed inside after Thalia made sure that she locked it.

As soon as she stepped inside of the house, they saw a lot of students dancing to loud music, others were drinking, while some were just talking or standing in a corner, looking like they just want this night to end.

"Kayla!" The four of them looked over to the voice that called them.

It was a young man that looked about twenty five walked right up to them. Thalia recognized him from one of her physics classes. His name was Mark. He had unruly brown hair, brown eyes, and a sheepish grin that seems to be always on him. He was wearing dark jeans, dark shoes, and a button up shirt in which the first two buttons were undone.

"Mark! Hey!" Kayla replied happily.

"So these are your friends that you told me about," He said charmingly, taking a look at each of the girls. When his eyes finally landed on Thalia, his look went from friendly and sheepish to that of familiarity.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere." Mark said as he pointed to Thalia.

"Mark, didn't I say not to use any cheesy pick up lines on my friends?" Kayla scolded.

"No, I'm serious. I think I've seen her somewhere before. Are you taking atmospheric physics?" He asked curiously. Thalia smiled a little and confirmed his answer.

"Aw, no wonder! Lemme guess, Thalia is it? You're practically at the top of the class!" He exclaimed.

"And you know my name how?" She asked in a teasing way. The sheepish grin came back on his face.

"Well, I was gonna talk to professor what's his face about something, and then I heard him call you so he could see you after class, and yeah…" He said. Thalia laughed at the poor guy's embarrassment.

"Nice to know that there's someone out there that's watching over me." Thalia laughed. Mark laughed with her.

"Hey…umm, you wanna dance?" he asked out of the blue. Thalia paused for a moment, letting him think otherwise.

"It's ok if you don't I mean, I—" Thalia cut him off with her laughter.

"Sure," Mark looked like the happiest guy on the planet. Thalia laughed at his excitement, before turning to face her friends who have been busily chatting to one another about something.

"Guys, I'll see you in a bit." She said before taking Mark's arm and the two of them headed to the dance floor.

They laughed and talked for a bit, talking about their friend's antics, classes, music, and other random stuff.

"So how do you know Kayla!" Thalia yelled.

"What!" Mark yelled back.

"How do you know Kayla!" Thalia shouted over the music. Mark shook his head.

"C'mon!" He yelled as he pulled Thalia out of the dance floor and to another room, where it's much quieter.

"What were you saying?" Mark asked.

"How do you know Kayla?" Thalia asked again for the third time.

"Oh, well, Michelle introduced us." Mark replied.

"You know Michelle?" Thalia asked in surprise. Mark seemed to be surprised by this statement.

"Yeah, she's my sister." Thalia blinked.

"I honestly could say that I haven't seen that coming." She said. Now that he mentioned it, she could start to see the family resemblance.

"Really? I thought it'd be kinda obvious…" He replied.

Thalia didn't know how long the two were talking, but she was enjoying herself.

Ever since she moved back to Canada, she had only three boyfriends in total, the first one being a jerk and she broke up with him after he accused her of cheating after she mentioned Nico and Percy while having a conversation with him. The poor guy didn't believe her that the two are her cousins.

The second guy had been amazing, but he kept pressuring her, so she broke up with him. While the third guy she dated was probably the best one out of the three. But they had a mutual breakup after a couple months of dating. So after those three, she decided that she'll stay single for a while, and so far, she's enjoying it. A lot.

"Excuse me?"

The two looked up to see a tall young man with unruly black hair stood in front of them. He was wearing a thick green hoodie, a white shirt and a pair of jeans, and…Thalia immediately recognized him once she saw the sly grin on his face. He was none other than the messenger of the gods, Hermes.

Thalia gave him a confused look.

I thought the gods weren't supposed to be outside of the host country, she thought.

"Yeah?" Mark said, slightly annoyed.

"Can I talk to Thalia for a moment?" He asked politely, not even looking at Mark, just at Thalia.

The brown haired man looked at Thalia.

"You know him?" He asked. Thalia could hear the slight hurt in his voice.

"Yeah…he's—" Thalia had been cut off.

"She's my sister." He said. Thalia looked at him curiously. Mark looked at her surprised.

"You didn't mention you didn't have any siblings." He said.

"You didn't ask." Thalia replied with a sheepish smile on her face. Mark looked slightly embarrassed.

"Oh, right. Hehe, sorry Thalia. I guess I'll leave you to it." Mark said as he left Thalia and Hermes.

As soon as he left, Hermes turned to Thalia with—what looked to her—an expression that was a cross of both good humor and seriousness. She had no idea how someone could pull off a look like that, but squashed the idea out of her head after she reminded herself that she had seen so many weirder things happen in her life.

"You know, you gave us a hard time trying to find you, Thalia." He said. Thalia looked at the ground beneath her, and then looked back at Hermes.

"I didn't try to not be found." She said. Hermes shrugged.

"Either way, it was hard, even for us gods, to find you. Artemis was the only one who knew, but she claimed that she felt as though it wasn't her place to tell anyone else about your whereabouts." Hermes replied. Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" She asked, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"Yup," Hermes said, "Although, I have to say, getting out of America is a smart idea if you wanted a normal life. Well, as normal as it can get. But I have to ask, why Canada?"

"I was actually born here," She shrugged, "I figured I may as well go back here, seeing as I haven't given this place a second thought for a long time." Hermes nodded, trying to understand what she meant.

"I see…" It was silent for a moment.

"So," Thalia began, "What are you doing here? I thought that gods weren't allowed to leave their host country. I mean, I don't mean any disrespect or anything, but I was just curious." She said. Hermes blinked before remembering what he needed to do.

"Oh right, well, me being the messenger of the gods, I have special access everywhere, including outside of the host country on occasion to deliver people their messages. One of which is you." He said with a grin.

Thalia blinked.

"A message for me?" She asked.

The message is probably important if they decided to send Hermes, Thalia thought.

She doesn't have anything against Hermes, really. It's just that he's normally really busy delivering messages for the gods themselves.

Hermes nodded, confirming Thalia's statement.

"Yup, for you, Thalia," Hermes grinned, "Is there a more private area that we can talk?" He asked. Thalia shook her head.

"Unfortunately, this room is probably the most private area we could get," She said, "The entire house has students all over." Hermes took this into consideration.

"Ok then, here it is."

Hermes looked around for a bit, before lowering his voice, but not so much that she can't hear him.

"The message is to inform you that you, Nico Di Angelo and Percy Jackson will be going on a quest that Hecate has issued." He said.

Thalia was confused. Why wouldn't Hecate send her own children? Why send the only three children of the Big three?

As if he read her mind, Hermes answered her unspoken questions.

"Hecate would have sent her own children, but what you, Percy and Nico will be retrieving can't be found unless you get some things from your fathers' domain." Hermes explained.

"Do you know what we're getting?" Thalia asked after a moment of silence.

"Hecate's long lost item or what's inside Father's as well as Hades' and Poseidon's domains?" Hermes asked with a grin. Thalia guessed it was an attempt to lighten up the mood.

"Both…I guess" Thalia shrugged.

"I don't know what you need in Zeus's domain, nor do I know what you need from the other two, but I do know what the item is that you will be looking for. It's an amulet of hers, and powerful one at that. No one knows where it disappeared to. Only the Fates know, and maybe Apollo." Here, Thalia stiffened hearing the sun god's name.

"You have to go back to America and get the prophecy with Nico and Percy. There's no quest leader for this." He said.

Thalia didn't exactly want to go back to the States so suddenly after two years, she left the country to start a new, she didn't want to go back to it, as tempting as it is to see her old friends again, she didn't want to be dragged into a quest that could possibly kill her, and besides…she isn't completely over Apollo, and to know if he had sired any other children during her two year stay here, well, let's just say that Thalia will be even more bitter.

Hermes sensed her hesitation.

She was starting to make a new life for herself, he thought, of course she'll hesitate.

"Thalia," He began, "I know you just started to make a life of your own, but Hecate's amulet, it's the key to all of the Titans' prisons. It lulls them to sleep, and makes sure that no one gets in or out. Only Hecate's amulet can do this, because only she knows how to create such prisons, and only she knows how to activate the amulet's magic." He finished, with an apologetic tone yet it held a hint of pleading in it.

Thalia pondered this for a moment. She had never heard this story before and practically every Greek "myth" that she knew can be found at the museum. Thalia swiftly pushed these thoughts out of her head and looked at the god of thieves before her. She sighed and finally relented.

"Alright, fine. When do I leave?" She asked. Hermes gave her a small smile, one that was barely noticeable.

"I would say by tomorrow, but seeing as you're here now, I would say leave by the day after at the latest," He winked mischievously. Thalia blushed slightly as she remembered where she was and what she's wearing.

"Anyways, I should probably get going. Demeter's demanding that I get that fertilizer that she's been wanting for I don't know how long." Hermes said with a sheepish grin. Thalia had to crack a smile at that.

He took a step back and whipped out his phone.

"Oh, and enjoy your night out, Thalia, don't get too hung over!" He said with a grin, before taking one more step back and then disappearing completely.

Thalia blinked.

"Thalia!" The black haired demi-goddess turned around and saw Liz, Kayla and Michelle standing behind her, with excited grins on their faces.

"Who was that guy you were talking to?" Kayla demanded.

"My brother." Thalia said. Technically, Hermes _is_ her brother, since their father is Zeus, truth be told, it felt really weird calling Hermes her brother for some reason.

"You never told us you had a brother!" Liz exclaimed. Thalia shrugged.

"You never asked." She replied with a sheepish look on her face. Liz rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Shut up…C'mon, let's dance." Liz said as she dragged Michelle and Thalia with her to the noisy dance room with Kayla hot on their heels.

Thalia laughed lightly, and figured she might as well. It'll probably be the only time she'll be able to do this for a while.

As she danced with her friends, she didn't have to think about anything, she didn't have to think about her upcoming quest, nor how everyone back at camp will react to seeing her again, nor did she think about a possibility of bumping into Apollo, the god in which she never stopped having feelings for, whether she realized it or not. Thalia had just cleared her mind and let all of her worries go. She just wanted to have some fun for that one night, because there is a high chance that she won't be able to do this for a while…

* * *

**Hey, hope you liked it :P**

**it's not exactly my best one yet, but, it's been a while. :P**

**anyways, lemme know how i did**

**REVIEW!**

**oh and no flamz please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Here's chapter 3!**

**Hope you enjoy it! :P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, I only own the plot and the OCs.**

**October, 10, 2011, with Thalia**

It was two days after the party, and Thalia was currently loading some of her things into her car. Her godmother Emma was there to see her off, while Michelle was there so that Thalia could give her the keys to her apartment; Thalia asked her to house sit, that and she could drop off all of her work from school that Mark had so graciously offered to take.

"I don't understand why you need me to housesit, I mean, I don't mind and all, but there isn't really anything for me to housesit _for_. Besides dropping off your stuff that it…" Is what Michelle said as Thalia handed the keys to her apartment.

"I just feel more comfortable knowing that someone is keeping an eye on it for me while I'm away." Thalia said with a sheepish grin. Truth be told, Thalia just wants to make sure that while she's away, there won't be any break ins by monsters or other demi-gods who learned of her stay here.

"Alright, alright." Michelle laughed. Out of all her friends here, she felt closest to Michelle. Kayla—as nice and fun as she is—normally talks about fashion, a lot, while Liz tends to daydream very frequently, so frequently that Thalia sometimes didn't know what in Hades she's talking about. Michelle's probably the only level headed one out of their small group.

"Thanks, Mimi." Thalia said, using the nickname that Michelle hated. The said brown haired student rolled her eyes, and gave her friend a hug.

"It's no problem, Tally." Michelle retorted, knowing full well that Thalia hated that nickname. Thalia laughed as she broke the hug.

"Touché." Michelle grinned innocently at the demi-god before her.

"Call me as soon as you get to your Great Aunt's house, I wanna make sure that you don't kill yourself with that driving of yours." Michelle said.

Thalia had told everyone the day before that her Uncle had passed away and that she'll be going back to the States for his funeral that's held at her Great Aunt's estate, and she'll be staying there for a little while, three weeks at least—Thalia had no idea how long this quest is going to take, although, she just hoped that she won't miss too much of work and school.

Thalia pretended to be offended when Michelle commented on her driving.

"Hey, my driving isn't _that_ bad." She defended.

"Then explain all the speeding tickets you have in your glove compartment." The brown haired mortal retorted.

"The police just pulled me over when I was only a little over the speed limit!" Thalia exclaimed.

"Thalia, each and every time you get caught, you're always driving at least two hundred kilometers per hour!" Michelle exclaimed.

"Ok so I _was_ driving at a dangerous speed." Thalia admitted reluctantly.

"You be careful, and when you get to your Great Aunt's place, call me as soon as you're able, alright?" Michelle insisted, giving her friend yet another hug.

"Alright, alright, I promise." Thalia laughed.

"Ok, anyways, I better get going, otherwise Charlie's gonna wake up the entire building." Michelle said. Charlie is her chocolate Labrador puppy that she had recently gotten.

"Kay, say hi to the little guy for me." Thalia said. Michelle nodded and gave her yet one more hug.

"Bye, Thals, see you when you get back!" Michelle said as she walked away from Thalia, leaving her alone with her godmother, Emma.

Emma is an older woman who was in her late forties, with sandy coloured hair that ended at her jaw line, and eyes that change its colour depending on the angle of light that it hits. She was wearing black suit pants, black high heeled shoes, a light cream coloured blazer, and a white dress shirt underneath. She wore a golden necklace that has two small, golden angel wings, with three small beads on each wing, and a single bead on the point in which the two wings meet. Each of the beads was each of the colours of the rainbow, making the pendant a symbol of her mother, Iris.

"I want you to write me a letter as often as you can, or at least give me a call every now and then." Emma said as soon as Michelle was out of sight. Thalia sighed.

"I can't promise that, Emma." Thalia replied sadly.

"Then at least when you get to the camp, and before you leave for your quest." Emma insisted. Thalia was silent for a little while.

"Promise me, Thalia; swear to me on Zeus's throne that you'll do it. Please, I've already lost your mother; I don't want to lose you to." Thalia had told Emma about Hermes's visit the other night and about her quest with Percy and Nico. Emma was then worrying about Thalia's safety ever since.

After seeing the desperate look in her godmother's eye, Thalia relented. She seemed to be giving into other people's needs more often these days.

"Fine, I, Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, swear on my father's throne that I will call you as soon as I get to camp, and before I leave for my quest." Thunder cackled in the distance, signaling that Zeus will hold it to her that she will keep her promise. Emma smiled briefly at the younger woman before her.

"Do you have everything? Nectar? Ambrosia? Drachmas? Canadian and American currency? Gas money? Your weapons? Extra money just in case you get pulled over again?" Emma asked, as if she were a mother watching her only child get ready to leave home for an overnight trip that was not over at a friend's house.

"The nectar and ambrosia are in my bag, as well as my money, and weapons. And for this trip, I may as well drive at 30 kilometers an hour." Thalia said, as she opened the driver's side of her car. She was about to go in, but Emma stopped her.

"Wait, Thalia," Thalia gave the older woman a confused look, but she got her foot out of the car, so she can listen to her properly.

Emma quickly looked around before reaching up and had unclasped the necklace that she was wearing.

"Here, my mother gave it to me before I went on my first quest. It hides your scent from any monsters, no matter how powerful they are. They'll just believe that you're a regular mortal, and if they're smart enough, they'll think that you're a mortal who can see through the Mist." Emma explained as she grabbed Thalia's hand and gingerly placed the necklace on it.

"I have no use for it anymore, and I want you to have it. Your scent is much stronger than mine, and with you using technology more often, and the fact that you'll be going on a quest with two other demi-gods whose scent is just as powerful as yours, I know for a fact that you're going to need it." Thalia stared at the necklace on her hand, and then looked back at her godmother. She stepped forward and embraced her godmother into a hug.

"Thank you, Emma," She muttered. Emma laughed and hugged her goddaughter back. After a few moments, Emma broke the hug.

"Just remember, it will only work so long as you wear the necklace before you cross the border to the States, and before you cross the camp's boundaries. If monsters catch your scent before you wear it, then they can still hunt you down. If you put it on after you cross the border, then the attacks won't start happening for ten hours at most." Emma explained.

Thalia nodded, and thanked the older woman once more. Emma smiled at her yet again before turning her and gently pushing her into her car.

"You better get going, the more you stay here, the worse the traffic is going to get." Emma said with light humor in her voice. Thalia laughed lightly and nodded.

"Bye Emma," Thalia said as she shut the door, and turned on the engine. She checked the street, just to make sure that she wouldn't ram into any other car or anything/anyone else, and began to driving off. Thalia glanced in her rearview mirror and saw Emma standing there by herself, waving her goodbye. Thalia smiled at her godmother's actions.

She removed her eyes from the mirror and focused on the road ahead of her.

It's going to be a long drive, she thought.

**Later that day**

It was 9:30 that night, and Thalia was still driving. She didn't know when she'll be arriving at camp, but secretly hoped that it will take a little bit longer. She knew that it was useless to hope, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Besides, she thought, it's only delaying the inevitable.

With the sky already dark, it just gave her this feeling that she shouldn't be out by herself. She didn't know why, but she just felt as though that it just wasn't safe for her, despite the fact that she's a demi-god, and one of the more powerful ones at that.

She would rather have it nice and sunny out. It was always warm, and it seemed friendly, and…it always reminded her of the reason why she left the States in the first place.

Thalia snorted bitterly. She didn't know whether or not to continue liking the sun for just being there or because of the fact of whose _driving_ it every sunrise and sunset.

After two years of staying in Canada and away from her old life, she hadn't completely gotten over Apollo and what he did to her. Then again, she has a right to be mad at him if people understood her situation. Thalia had fallen in love with Apollo, and had given up _everything_ for just one night with him. They had been seeing eachother for a while, and Thalia loved it. She loved how he would always try to sneak up on her whenever she's trying to hunt something, and she would always catch him before her prey had gotten away. She should've known better than to fall in love with a god, much less Apollo, who has a reputation of flirting with practically every girl or woman that he meets. But she couldn't help herself.

After she had caught him with a tree nymph that was oh so conveniently near the Hunter's camp site, she had mixed feelings of anger and sadness for a long time. Then she started feeling regret. She regretted for even falling in love with him in the first place, for letting him take her, for _everything_. She knew that Artemis would have eventually found out. And the only options for her were to either a) you tell Artemis about what you have done, or b) have Artemis find out the hard way and be turned into an animal and then be hunted down for dinner.

Ok, so the second option might be a little bit extreme, but Thalia isn't lying about being turned into an animal if she finds out the hard way. Phoebe told her that the last girl that did that, she refused to tell Artemis, and then Artemis caught her and the guy together, and then she turned the girl into a stork, though, she had it coming in the long run.

So after two years, she still loves him, but she doesn't want to be with him if he'll end up doing that.

Then again, Thalia thought, the gods do that all the time. You shouldn't even be surprised, Thals.

She let out a breath, and turned off the radio that she had been listening to for a good little while. There weren't any good songs on, and to make things even more torturous, she had forgotten all of her CDs back at her apartment.

She had a handful of awful and very boring car rides, although, this might have to be the worst one yet.

Thalia looked out of her window, and saw nothing but land, and the occasional farmhouse and forest. She shook her head, and turned her attention to the road ahead of her.

"Correction: definitely the worst one yet," She muttered, "Stupid ADHD."

Even if a person didn't have it, it was still really boring to be driving through the country side, all by yourself, for at least ten hours and not listening to the radio. Thalia was about to pull over and just walk around a bit, when she all of a sudden heard some howling.

Thalia's brows furrowed and glanced at her rearview mirror.

There were several hellhounds chasing after her. Her eye twitched at the sight of them. She didn't really bother counting how many hellhounds that was after her, besides she couldn't even _see_ how many there were because it's so dark out.

"I don't know whether to feel thankful that I'm actually _doing_ something, or be pissed off by the fact that I'm being chased after by gods know how many hellhounds." She said out loud.

Thalia retracted her foot from the gas pedal only slightly, before heavily pressing her foot onto the gas pedal, making her go to at least 200 km/h. She glanced at the rearview mirror, and saw that the hellhounds were gaining some speed on her. She growled slightly and saw a forest coming up on her left.

Thalia smirked as an idea came to her.

She picked up her speed only slightly, and once she saw the nearby forest, she made a very sharp left turn, only to have the hellhounds chase after her.

Perfect, she thought as a smirk played on her lips. She continued driving towards the forest and glanced at her rearview mirror every now and again just to double check that the hellhounds were still chasing after her.

They were.

As soon as she was close enough, she made a sharp right turn. Thalia glanced back at her rearview mirror once more, and smirked triumphantly. She saw some of the hellhounds that were after her, crash into the trees, and into eachother, before most of them exploded into golden dust, thus sending each hellhound back to Tartarus.

However, the smirk soon turned into a scowl when she saw yet _another_ hellhound chase after her. Out of all the hellhounds that had decided to not crash into the others, it just had to be the biggest, the meanest and the ugliest one out of the small batch of monsters.

She suddenly remembered the necklace that was lying neatly in her pocket.

She forgot to wear it before she crossed the border…

"Damn it!" Thalia cursed frustrated at her forgetfulness as she removed her foot from the gas pedal only to literally slam her foot against it. She jerked back at the newfound speed that her car is going at. Thalia glanced at her rearview mirror briefly and noticed that the monster is still gaining up to her.

Thalia scowled and silently prayed to the gods that she'll be reaching camp soon.

And sure enough, she can soon see her tree standing proudly on top of a hill. Thalia let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding in, and silently thanked the gods.

She floored the gas pedal once more, speeding on the hill, with the hellhound on her tail.

For a hellhound, you're pretty dumb, she thought as she made some turns trying to shake the beast off her tail.

She growled in frustration, and made yet another sharp turn, this time, she drove directly to the camp entrance.

Thalia briefly wondered if her car would be able to pass through the barrier, but shoved the thought out of her head, when the black hound attempted to bite the back of her car.

"Ok, watch the car! I spent gods know how much on this thing, and I'm not about to let it get ruined by some hellhound." Thalia yelled at the beast, not caring if it heard her or not.

Unfortunately, it did.

Thalia slammed her foot against the gas pedal. She shot forward and sped past the barriers. Thalia quickly removed her foot on the gas, and slammed it on the break, all the while making a sharp turn in the opposite direction, making dust and dirt fly everywhere, but thankfully, the car stopped.

Thalia let out a relieved breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding, and looked out the window, and to the hellhound at the other side of the barrier. It was trying to pass through, at the same time trying to get past Peleus, the dragon that has been guarding her tree.

Thalia smirked triumphantly at the beast, and briefly relaxed for just a moment, before realizing where she is, and that her entrance has certainly created some spectators.

Thalia looked outside of her other windows, and sure enough, there are some of the other year round campers that had begun to crowd around her car. For some reason, she breathed in, opened the door and slowly got out.

There was a silent pause, and Thalia used this opportunity to see if anything changed while she was away, too bad that nothing much had changed since the last time she had been here. Thalia saw Chiron galloping to the crowd, and once he saw her, he smiled.

"Thalia, welcome back!" He called, thus breaking the silence. The campers began whispering amongst themselves, mostly talking about their confusion about Thalia's sudden reappearance, the fact that she looks older, the fact that she has a car, and that she wasn't with the other Hunters.

I guess they never found out. She thought, thankful that they didn't find out about her.

"Hey Chiron, long time, no see." Thalia said somewhat nervously.

"It really is." He said, all the while, eyeing her car. Thalia looked at what he was looking at, and noticed it was her car. Thalia chuckled nervously.

"Umm, sorry about disrupting whatever you guys were doing, but I was just trying to get away from that hellhound." She explained as she pointed to the border in which the hellhound was _still_ there; where it was currently being fought off not only by Peleus, but with other demi-gods as well.

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Thalia," He said, "But I'm just thinking about where to put it."

Oh.

"Well, it doesn't matter at the moment, what does matter is that you're—" Chiron was cut off abruptly by someone screaming.

"THALIA!" The said demi-goddess jumped slightly at the angry shout. She turned around only to see an older looking Annabeth Chase stomped towards her, with a really angry look in her eye.

Thalia had to force herself to not gulp.

When Annabeth was finally right in front of her, she looked at Thalia straight in the eye, right before she punched her shoulder…_hard._

"Ow! What in Hades was that for!" Thalia exclaimed, while rubbing her shoulder.

"For not telling me where you were going." Annabeth replied.

"Fair enough." Thalia replied.

"And for completely disappearing on us for two years, _and_ for not giving me any clue as to where you are and why." Annabeth continued. Thalia had to force herself not to roll her eyes.

Thalia opened her mouth to say something, but Chiron had beaten her to it.

"Let's get to the Big House, shall we? I assume that you have already received the message that you have been issued a quest." Chiron said. Thalia nodded.

"Wait, what about my car?" Thalia asked.

"I'll take it to the garage, where the camp van is." Annabeth offered. Thalia smiled.

"Thanks Annabeth." Thalia tossed her keys to Annabeth.

"When you get back from this quest, you have a _lot_ of explaining to do." Annabeth growled, while glaring at Thalia.

The said demi-goddess laughed somewhat nervously. After running away with her for a few years, she had learned that once you tick off Annabeth, she is a force to be reckoned with, even when she was seven.

She saw Annabeth get inside her car, started it, and then began driving off to an area that was farther away from the fields.

Thalia briefly heard Chiron clear his throat. She turned around and began following him, the crowd that was there just moments ago, was now clear, and Thalia was thankful for it.

As she was following Chiron, Thalia instinctively glanced over her shoulder, and she didn't know if her eyes were playing a trick on her, but there was a faint outline of a person standing, well, standing isn't really the word to describe it, it's more like, leaning, against her tree.

Thalia's blue eyes narrowed slightly, trying to see if the shadow leaning next to her tree was actually a person and not a trick of the light.

Thalia's eyes began to hurt, and she blinked a couple times. She was looking at the same spot once more, and this time there wasn't any shadow what so ever.

Thalia shrugged and jogged slightly, and caught up with Chiron, all the while, pushing any thoughts of the mysterious shadow at her tree to the very back of her mind.

**On Olympus**

A blonde haired god sighed as he set foot in his temple.

She's back, he thought, she's really back.

Apollo had been getting visions of Thalia driving in a car and into Camp Half-Blood for the last couple days, and when he finally decided to check if she was really back, he saw her talking to Chiron.

And he had to admit, she had changed a lot. She looked older, more relaxed and she seemed to be more open. Her hair grew longer, and died some of it electric blue, which surprisingly suited her quite nicely, but that was all that he could see in the dark. Although, Apollo had a sneaking suspicion that she would've changed a lot more than what he had seen tonight.

He, like everyone else—both mortal and immortal—had no idea where she disappeared to for two years. The only person who knew was Artemis, because Thalia was the one who _told_ her where she was going, but didn't specify where.

"It's not my place to tell you all where she is going." Is what she said each and every time someone asked her.

It took a lot of pleading—mostly on his part—threats of being grounded and a lot of puppy eyed looks—again, mostly on his part—to get her to even tell _anyone_ for that matter a small hint as to where she disappeared to, and _that_ took him about a year and a half.

And a hint she gave.

"If you truly know her, then you would have at least an idea of where she would have gone." Artemis said to him and their father, Zeus.

Too bad it was a horrible hint.

After that, she had flatly refused to tell them anything else that they might need. Hecate and Hermes were also there, since Hecate wanted to send Thalia on a quest for whatever reason—Apollo wasn't exactly paying attention to what Hecate had to say—and Hermes had to deliver the message.

Oddly enough, it was actually Hermes who may have gotten something. He claimed that her mother wasn't originally from America, but Canada and said that there's a high chance that Thalia had been born there as well. And, after a month of going through a lot of mortal citizenship applications and Canadian birth certificates, he finally found out that Thalia was indeed born in Canada. Now _that_ was something he never knew, and figured that none of Thalia's friends know about it as well.

After a month and a half, Hermes was able to find out that Thalia had been living in Toronto for the last two years and was going to university, as well as working at a museum. It took hiim about two weeks for him to actually find out where she lived and by the time he got there, she wasn't home, so he went searching for her, and he finally did.

Apollo was glad that after two years, she had finally come back. During those two years, he hadn't gone after another woman, both pleasing and worrying Artemis. The last time he had gone to visit the Hunt, or more specifically, Thalia, he had found out that Artemis found out about the two of them. He had been in pain for a little while—courtesy of Artemis, of course—which was ironic seeing as he's the god of medicine. Although, it was a small amount of pain after he found out that Thalia had caught him with that nymph, and that his chances with her were probably slim to none. He still felt horrible the incident today and he wanted to make up for it. He really wanted her forgiveness and he wanted another chance with her.

Although, there's a high chance that he may not get it. Knowing Thalia, she would probably try to cause him as much pain as possible just to get back at him, and he wouldn't be surprised, in fact, he had repeatedly told himself that he probably deserved whatever pain that she will end up inflicting on him.

But still, a guy can hope, can't he?

* * *

**How'd ya like it?**

**REVIEW please! :P**

**I'll try to update as soon as I can...although, I can't promise anything seeing as I have recently caught a cold, and i have a history presentation that's due tomorrow, and i have to study for two science tests (though, technically, one is actually a quiz, but that still requires some studying), AND a latin assignment that's due next week...slsdlkjdfd**

**so much woooork.../cry**

**oh well :P**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, here's chaptere 4!**

**Sorry about the wait, but normally, I would type up a bunch of chapters, make sure that they make sense, then upload them, then write another chapter, and...i'm not making any sense, am I? Meh, then again, I just recently woke up so yeah :P**

**So yeah... enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, however, I do own the plot and the OCs.**

**The same day, but much later that evening with Thalia in the Big House**

Thalia sat on one of the couches, gazing out into the window, bored out of her mind. She had been waiting for Chiron to come back with Percy and Nico for gods know how long. Thalia had long since called Emma, telling her of her arrival at camp and her encounter with the hellhounds.

"Thalia…" Emma began, "Did you remember to put the necklace on _before_ you crossed the border?"

Thalia felt kind of stupid for forgetting such an important piece of information.

"Just be sure to put it on before you leave the camp, alright?" Emma said with a sigh.

"Alright, alright." Thalia replied sheepishly.

"Otherwise, you'll have more monsters than usual that want to eat you whole." Emma said. Thalia laughed lightly.

"Don't worry, I learned my lesson, I'll put it on as soon as we both get off the phone." She replied.

Soon enough, their conversation had ended. Mostly out of nervousness and fear of what Thalia's phone bill would look like by the thirty first if they talk for too long.

Stupid long distance calling charges.

So now here, she was; gazing out the window, bored out of her mind, with nothing to do, but waiting, and waiting only.

But how long do I have to wait? She thought to herself.

Thalia sighed in frustration. She really didn't like waiting; then again, most half-bloods hate waiting.

"How long do they have to take?" She muttered out loud.

Thalia faintly wondered what her two "cousins" would look like after two years.

She almost knew for sure that Percy and Annabeth are still together. They were just one of those couples that stay together for the rest of their lives after a ton of drama that had taken place. Thalia didn't really have a chance to get a good look at Annabeth after two years, mostly because: a) Thalia was busily defending herself from Annabeth's really scary wrath, and b) it was dark enough for Thalia not to notice any changes that had taken place.

In here, there are plenty of lights that lit up the room, giving Thalia a clear view of her surroundings. She was sitting on one of the couches in the rec room near the window, giving her a clear view of the shore as well as the skyline. It really is a beautiful sight, but she can hardly see anything since it was dark out, and with the bright lights in the rec room; it didn't really help out much when she was trying to see what's going on outside of the building.

So bored…Thalia thought bitterly.

She was about to get up and start wandering around the room so she can actually try and find something to do, when all of a sudden, she heard the door creak open. Thalia stood up and turned around only to make eye contact with an older Nico Di Angelo and Percy Jackson, who were both standing there, both their eyes wide in shock and disbelief. Chiron had already entered the room and he was currently looking at the other two children of the Big Three with a bemused expression on his face.

Thalia smiled unsurely at the two, "Hey guys." She said as she took a good look at the two.

Percy hadn't grown much, height wise, but he had definite changes, but not that much. His unruly black hair is still unruly as ever, and it was tasseled in a way that would make even Kayla swoon—she would claim that her younger "cousin" is really cute, a fact that Thalia would find very disturbing and slightly insane—and his green eyes were even greener than before, and the grey streak that he had gotten from holding up the sky, years ago, was still there, but is now more noticeable. He also seemed older and more mature with his responsibilities, a stark contrast to the Percy that Thalia had known and loved—in a "cousin-ish way—two years ago.

Nico on the other hand, had changed quite a bit. He was no longer the short twelve year old kid with the "emo" look that he had. His shaggy black hair was pushed out of his face, revealing a pair of coal black eyes that seemed to look right through you. He grew taller and looked as though he's an inch or two shorter than Thalia herself, although, one of the few things that stayed the same is the olive complexion that he and his sister had once shared.

The two younger demi-gods stared at her with disbelieving eyes. For a while, they both believed that Thalia is still Artemis's Lieutenant, and after an encounter with the Hunt, Percy had found out that Thalia had been booted out since she had broken her oath, and Artemis had refused to tell him where she went. So for three months, he, Annabeth, Grover and Nico have all been worrying about her, and frequently wondered about where she had gone. So now, their worries have been put to rest since Thalia is right there before them, alive and well, and as well as being a lot older than the last time they saw her.

Seeing the two before her, Thalia had a feeling that they might have the same reaction that Annabeth had, which was not a sight to see.

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One…_

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US WHERE YOU WERE!"

Nico and Percy yelled at the same time and at the same volume, causing Thalia and Chiron to wince.

"Hehe…It's a long story…" Thalia said as she began fiddling with Aegis.

"So start telling." Nico demanded, while glaring at her.

Uh oh, there goes the grudging… Thalia thought. Nico's fatal flaw: holding grudges.

This is gonna be a _long_ quest. She thought to herself. Thalia was about to start explaining, but Chiron had thankfully came to her rescue.

"Unfortunately, you will have to wait a little while longer; I have to explain some things to the three of you immediately." Chiron interrupted. Thalia nodded and mentally thanked him for saving her from telling the two younger demi-gods the story of where she had been for the past two years.

The three sat on the couch in which Thalia had previously occupied on her own, and Chiron sat in front of them, him in his wheelchair. Thalia sat in the middle with Percy and Nico sitting on the empty spots on both sides.

"Tell me, do you know about Hecate's involvement during the First Titan War?" Chiron asked. Percy and Nico shook their heads.

"Hecate was actually born a Titan, but had sided with the Olympians during the first war. As a reward, the gods made her a minor goddess." Thalia explained, using her "tour guide" tone. Chiron nodded.

"Correct, but what wasn't recorded was that she was also asked by Zeus to create the prisons for the titans who had sided against them. So she used her magic and created an amulet that enhances the prisons that she had created, lulling the Titans to sleep, thus making it futile to escape." Chiron explained.

"Wait, then how did…?" Percy asked.

"Percy, _none_ of the other Titans that originally had prisons have escaped during the war two years ago. It was only Kronos and Prometheus that didn't have such prisons." Percy nodded, still looking confused.

"Unfortunately, news of the amulet had spread, and many, both mortals and immortals, have tried to steal Hecate's amulet so that they can reawaken the Titans. Fortunately, none have succeeded. But there was one time in which Autolycus, a son of Hermes, has been hired to steal the amulet from her. He had tried, but did not succeed. Hecate killed him for such a thing, and after that near attempt, she had created a fourth companion. She already had three: the dog, the horse and the boar. The fourth was to protect her amulet at all costs.

"She had refused to tell anyone the animal that she had chosen as her fourth companion, as a safety precaution. And for many years to come there were still attempts, but each and every one of which have been a failure. One night, her fourth companion had disappeared. No one knew where it went, and the gods, knowing the amount of power it holds just by carrying the amulet, was about to search all over the world for it, but Hecate claimed that the Fates had visited her, telling her not to search for it until they have visited her for the second time. The gods listened, knowing that even the most powerful must listen to the Fates.

"And two years ago, the Fates have visited her once more claiming that it was time to search for it." Chiron concluded.

"But why wait two years to actually tell us about the quest?" Thalia asked.

"No one knew where you went, except for Artemis, but she refused to tell anyone about your whereabouts." Chiron replied.

Oh.

"Oh." She said.

"Wait, what's the quest about?" Nico asked.

"I was just getting to that, Nico." Chiron said paitently, "Hecate has issued that you three find the companion that carries the amulet." He continued.

"…"

"…"

"…No disrespect or anything, but why couldn't she send her own children?" Nico asked again.

"There are three items that are needed in each of your fathers' domains. I don't know what they are, but they are supposed to help you on your quest, and since it's almost impossible to enter their domains without bring summoned or getting killed, you three are the only choice of the matter. Parents, god or not, they never want to hurt their own children, so if you go, then you won't get killed." Chiron said.

There was still some silence before Percy spoke up.

"When do we leave?" He asked.

"Tomorrow at dawn. Rachel will be down here any moment to give the prophecy." The centaur replied.

"Wait, so there's no quest leader?" Nico asked his tone held _very_ slight disappointment.

Chiron nodded, and Nico's face fell very slightly.

Thalia could understand, she remembered one time where she, Percy and Nico did some "cousin" bonding and he told the two that he's always wanted to lead a quest. Thalia glanced at Percy who looked at the younger demi-god with a look that Thalia couldn't really place, but suspected that it was one of compassion for the youngest demi-god in the room.

The four heard the door open, shortly after the silence had begun. Thalia turned her head and saw the red haired Oracle: Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Her curly red hair grew longer, and her green eyes seemed brighter. She wore red, loose pyjama pants and a yellow t-shirt, a pair of bright pink fuzzy socks and a loose red sweater.

She looked like she had just gotten out of bed, Thalia thought. Rachel yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly, letting her eyes adjust to the bright lights. The red haired Oracle froze when her eyes landed on Thalia.

"Thalia!" She exclaimed as sleep rushed out of her body, and replaced with newfound energy. Rachel quickly rushed around the couch that Thalia, Nico and Percy have been occupying, and wrapped her arms around the older girl, hugging her tightly.

"Where have you been!" She exclaimed as Rachel broke the hug not long after.

"Wait, no, don't answer that, at least, not yet. How are you? And what did you do to your hair?" Rachel asked as she finally noticed Thalia's dyed hair for the first time.

"Wait, also another dumb question, what I meant to say is that it looks great." Rachel said with a grin. Thalia chuckled lightly at the younger girl.

"Thanks Rach." Thalia replied.

During a visit to the Camp a couple months before she got booted out of the Hunt, Thalia had gotten really bored one night and so she had begun wandering around the perimeter of the camp, trying to look for something to do and she had accidentally bumped into Rachel. The two began talking, and before they knew it, it was pitch black outside, and Rachel invited Thalia to stay in her cave for the night. They had a lot of fun, but had gotten no sleep what so ever. The two had stayed in contact for the next little while, right up until Thalia's "disappearance."

Rachel laughed lightly.

"It's no problem, Thalia."

And for the first time that night, Thalia realized that she's the first person who hadn't yelled at her for not telling anyone about what happened to her and where she's going, besides Chiron, then again, he never yells at any demi-god unless it was absolutely necessary.

Rachel stood up straight and waved her hand to Nico, silently telling him to scoot over so that she could sit. The son of Hades complied and moved over a bit closer to the arm of the couch. Rachel sat in the small space between the two "cousins" comfortably.

"To be completely honest, I was kinda mad to be dragged out of my bed a few minutes after I actually fell asleep only to give a prophecy, but if I had known that Thalia would be here, I would be telling whoever was sent to get me to hurry up." Rachel joked. Chiron smiled at the young, clear eyed mortal.

"You go to bed this early?" Thalia asked, surprised that anyone would be sleeping this early in the evening. Rachel laughed and nodded slightly.

"Normally, I'd still be up, but I had pulled up four all nighters working on a history presentation that was due today, and I had to study for three tests, so I wanted as much sleep I can get after that." Rachel said as she grimaced at the thought of her schoolwork.

Thalia blinked.

I don't even get that much work; and I'm in university. She thought

"If I may interrupt?" The two girls stopped their conversation, well; it's more like Rachel stopping herself from speaking again.

"Sorry Chiron…I guess I got a little carried away, I mean…" Rachel said with a sheepish grin.

"There's nothing to forgive, but we need a prophecy." The cheerful look on Rachel's tired face disappeared and was then quickly replaced by one that was serious.

"For that one quest that has all the gods anxious and stuff?" Rachel asked. Chiron nodded, confirming her answer.

"Alrighty, one of you ask away." Rachel said as she looked at each demi-god in the eye.

"What will happen on the quest?" Thalia didn't know who asked the question: Nico or Percy, but she didn't really care at the moment.

Rachel just sat there, and for a moment or two, nothing happened. Suddenly, her eyes began glowing green and her voice changed, it sounded raspy and that there were three Rachels speaking at the same time, in perfect unison.

"_Cousins earn their stepmother's treasure,  
The Fan, the Pearl and the Box in measure,  
To look for an amulet of the Witch-Queen  
In a land full of white and green,  
A land that is very far in the north,  
Where stays the companion fourth,  
The love of the Raven will help in times of need,  
And save her life before death can proceed._"

Even after she finished speaking the prophecy, Rachel's eyes were still glowing, but soon went back to its normal colour after a couple of seconds.

Silence enveloped the room once more, this time, all of them, but Rachel—who was wondering about what she said, but decided against speaking out loud—were thinking about what she had prophesized.

"The part about the witch queen means Hecate, right?" Nico asked aloud.

"Yeah, it has to be. After the first Titan War, the gods made her the goddess of witchcraft." Thalia explained, using her "tour guide" tone.

"But what I don't get is the fan, the pearl and the box." She continued, while looking at Chiron, knowing that he might know the answer.

"I think I know what it meant about the fan, pearl and box." Chiron began, thus capturing all of the demi-gods and single mortal's attention.

"After the birth of their first demi-god children, the wives of the Big Three had gotten together and each had created something that would help keep their husbands in line." Chiron explained.

"Well THAT certainly helped…" Thalia accidentally muttered out loud. Chiron ignored her comment, while the other three people in the room smirked, knowing that if one thing would never change about Thalia, it's her constant use of sarcasm.

"Hera had created a fan, so she can go anywhere in the world without having the mortals suspect that something is special about them. Amphitrite had created a pearl that allows the user to see anything about anyone. As for Persephone, she had created a box that can store anything or anyone, and can trap anyone in their place." Chiron explained. Thalia's brows furrowed.

"So you mean to say that the three of us have to travel to all three domains of our fathers, ask their wives—each of which practically hate us—to give us these things so that we'll be able to go wherever and find an amulet?" Thalia asked, her tone a cross between disbelief and sarcastic. Chiron nodded.

Thalia grimaced at the thought of asking Hera for some help. The goddess would probably end up killing her on the spot before she gave Thalia anything. She glanced at Percy out of the corner of her eye and saw him grimace as well, and Thalia suspected that Nico had the same expression on his face.

"But every five hundred years or so, they meet together and exchange their gifts, I don't know who has what for the last three hundred years." Chiron informed. Silence enveloped them once more.

"I just have one question." Rachel said out of the blue.

"What is it?" Chiron asked.

"What did I say?" Rachel asked, trying to keep her voice from reaching a painful volume.

Chiron repeated the prophecy to her. Thalia noted the way she seemed to understand some certain parts of the prophecy, but then mentally slapped herself, reminding that Chiron just explained a possibility of what the prophecy was talking about.

Chiron checked the clock hanging off the wall as soon as he had finished telling the red haired oracle the prophecy.

"Ah, I do believe that it's time for you three to get some rest," Thalia noticed that Nico was about to protest before he had been cut off by his own yawn. Thalia smiled and suppressed a laugh. Nico noticed the smile on her face and he glared at her, while Thalia in turn, and had given him an innocent look.

"I'll have someone take you back to your school, Rachel." Chiron said. The four demi-gods and mortal stood up.

"If it's alright with everybody, do you think that I could stay here?" Rachel asked sheepishly, "I usually stay at home during the school week and we get a half day tomorrow, for some reason, so no one would be asking me where I disappeared to for the night… and morning." She explained.

"You don't have to ask, Rachel," Chiron replied. Rachel grinned again and nodded.

"Thanks." She replied.

"Now, off to your cabins, and in your case, Rachel, cave." Chiron said as he ushered the four out of the Big House.

"Night Chiron!" Rachel said as she stepped out of the Big House right after Thalia had.

"Sooo, I guess I'll see you guys in the morning." Thalia awkwardly said. Before she could even take one step off the porch, she felt Rachel link arms with her stopping her from going any further.

"Uh, no, you're gonna be spending the night at my cave," Rachel said, and before Thalia could protest against it, Rachel continued, "I haven't seen you for two years, we definitely have a lot of catching up to do, as well as Annebeth" She turned to face Nico and Percy, both of whom looked really tired, "Oh, Percy, do you mind telling Annabeth to meet us at my cave too? I have a feeling that she'll want to stay as well." Rachel said with a grin.

"What-?" Before Percy could finish his sentence, Rachel began walking and Thalia was half-walking and half-dragged across the Camp, all the way to Rachel's cave.

"Umm…as much as I like you, Rachel, but why am I here?" Thalia asked as she sat down on the red head's bed.

"You're here because you're gonna explain to Annabeth and I about what happened that made you disappear from our lives for two years, and why, where you were and why, and what you were doing there and why." Rachel said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Thalia didn't reply to Rachel's statement.

They're gonna end up finding out about it one way or another. She thought, before letting out a breath.

"Now we just wait for Annabeth, but in the meantime, you have to tell me why you dyed some of your hair blue. Don't get me wrong though, it looks great." Rachel said. Thalia let out a small smile at the younger girl before her.

"One of my friends dared me to, and after that I liked it and decided to keep it that way." Thalia explained before a sheepish grin played on her lips.

Rachel looked at her suspiciously.

"I'm serious! She dared me to!" Thalia defended.

"Right…from the looks of it, you look a little too old for you to be taking on dares, Thalia." Rachel said. Thalia looked at her blankly.

"Fine, don't believe me." Thalia muttered. Rachel giggled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, it's just its kind of hard to believe that a twenty something year old woman did a dare." Rachel said. Thalia rolled her eyes with a light smile.

"Twenty three." She corrected. Rachel stopped giggling.

"Whoa, you're twenty three?" Thalia nodded.

"How old do you think I was? Twenty nine?" Rachel shook her head.

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of twenty seven." She was dead serious.

"Wow, do I really look that old?" Thalia asked in slight disbelief.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'm bad at telling people's ages. Last month, I saw this guy who looked like he was twenty, but it turned out he was twelve." Thalia looked at the red haired oracle in disbelief.

"You're kidding." She said. Rachel grimaced.

"Not kidding. It turned out that he's my friend's younger brother, so now every time I go over to her place, he's always there, hitting on me." Thalia couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"You're right; it does make me feel better!" Thalia exclaimed.

"Not funny, Thalia!" Rachel exclaimed, her face redder than her hair. Thalia couldn't decide whether it was out of embarrassment or anger, or maybe both, but she didn't put too much thought into it, since she was too busy laughing.

"So is!" Thalia laughed. Rachel pouted for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something.

"Am I missing something, here?" Thalia stopped laughing and stared at Rachel weirdly.

"What?" Rachel asked, not really looking at Thalia, but at the entrance. Thalia blinked and looked in the same direction, and saw Annabeth standing at the mouth of the cave.

"Whoa…I just thought that you said what Annabeth said." Thalia muttered, not caring if she made any sense saying that. Annabeth shrugged and walked over to Rachel's bed.

"Can someone tell me why Percy just walked into my cabin, half asleep, telling me to meet you guys here, only to arrive to see Thalia laughing so hard she looked like she was choking?" Annabeth asked as she sat down next to Thalia.

"Well, seeing as Thalia has to leave for a quest tomorrow, I figured that she should tell us what happened before she leaves." Rachel explained. Annabeth nodded.

"But that doesn't explain why Thalia was laughing so hard she looked like she was choking." Annabeth said.

"Rachel thought a twelve year old was twenty. Turned out he's her friend's younger brother and whenever they see eachother, he's always hitting on her." Thalia explained, as a few giggles escaped her lips.

Rachel and Annabeth looked at her strangely, and Thalia realized why.

I never giggle…She thought in dismay.

"Anyways," Rachel began, attempting to clear up the awkward silence, "Now that Annabeth has arrived, can you please tell us what happened?"

All the laughter in Thalia's eyes disappeared and was quickly replaced with a solemn look.

Thalia let out a sigh and began telling her story.

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**This has got to be the longest chapter I have ever written in my life... oh well**

**anyways, review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sooo sorry for the long wait, but school got in the way, but whenever I had freetime, i would do my best to write, without getting sidetracked about something... =P**

**Anyways, here's chapter 5, enjoy! =D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, however, I do own the plot and the OCs.**

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**October, 10, 2011, with Thalia inside Rachel's cave**

Rachel and Annabeth sat on Rachel's bed, doing their best to wait paitently for Thalia to start telling her story.

"It all started a few months before that big party on Olympus two years ago…" Thalia began, before launching into her long explanation.

She told the two about breaking her oath, and how she lost it to Apollo. She told them about what Apollo had done behind her back—Thalia had to fight back tears at the thought—and about telling Artemis about what she had done, and about Artemis changing her so that she is her actual age, and giving her all the important documents that she needs, and her promise not to tell anyone about her whereabouts until Thalia herself is ready. Thalia told them about how she didn't want to go back to camp and deal with the humiliation and shame that she knew that she'll be going through, especially if any of the Apollo or Aphrodite kids found out that she had broken her oath, and to Apollo too. She told them about going back to her birth country, Canada, and how she got back into contact with her godmother.

"You never told me you're Canadian!" Annabeth exclaimed. Thalia blinked.

"I never told you?" Annabeth nodded.

"Sorry…" Annabeth nodded, accepting her apology, before urging her to continue with her story.

Thalia nodded and continued on. She then told them about how she stayed with Emma, for a while until she had finally gotten the money from her mother's will, and how she used it to get herself a nice apartment near her job and her school and about how she also used it to get into one of the top schools in the country, how she works at a museum in Toronto, and that she can now use modern technology in Canada, seeing as she lives outside of the host country, and apparently, a small percentage of the total demi-gods born live outside the host country and if they do, then they rarely get attacked by monsters. Thalia also told them about her friends, Kayla, Michelle and Liz, and also told them that Liz reminds her of camp the most, and claimed that she looks like an older version of Rachel.

"Even the same name…" Thalia heard Rachel mutter. Thalia laughed lightly at the younger red head.

"But trust me, she only looks like you. Personality wise, she's the complete opposite." Thalia replied.

She didn't tell them about her love life—or lack thereof—but did tell them about the party that she went to with her friends, and how Hermes found her and told her about this quest.

"And here I am." Thalia finished unsurely. It was silent for a little while, before Rachel spoke up.

"So _that's_ why Apollo had been in pain for two months…kind of ironic seeing as he's the god of medicine…" Rachel mused. Thalia blinked. She then remembered Artemis muttering something along the lines of "I'm gonna kill him…" She just never thought that she would go out of her way to actually hurt him so much that Apollo will be in pain for two whole months.

"Can I ask you something, Thals?"

"You already did." The black haired demi-goddess replied. Annabeth rolled her eyes and asked anyway.

"Do you still have feelings for him?" She asked. Thalia's silence was enough to confirm Annabeth's question.

The blonde haired demi-goddess frowned and leaned forward and gave Thalia a hug. Thalia gratefully hugged the younger girl back.

"So you still have feelings for him?" Rachel asked. Thalia broke the hug and nodded at the younger teen, confirming both their questions. Rachel smiled sympathetically and gave her a quick hug as well.

Thalia broke the hug and noticed the clock on Rachel's bedside table. It read _12:02 a.m._

"We've been talking for that long?" Thalia asked incredulously.

The other two girls glanced at the clock and also grimaced.

"Yeah, I guess we should get some sleep seeing as Thalia is off to go on a quest tomorrow." Annabeth said. The other two agreed. Thalia stood up and was about to bid goodnight before Rachel cut her off.

"Oh no, Thals, you're spending the night here, you too Annabeth. You guys may be demi-gods, but I don't want you two to be lurking around in the dark, and besides, the harpies are gonna go after you seeing as it's way past curfew." Rachel said pointedly.

After a lot of persistence, Annabeth and Thalia had grudgingly agreed to spend the night in Rachel's cave. As much as they love their oracle, they weren't really supposed to be staying in her cave, just like how demi-gods can't stay in a cabin that isn't dedicated to their godly parent.

Rachel got up from her bed, and headed towards her dresser. She opened the top one and pulled out a couple shirts, then crouched down to the bottom drawer and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts and loose fitting sweatpants.

"Here some extra clothes, you two go crazy." Rachel said as she shoved the pants and tops into Thalia's arms. Annabeth reached out and grabbed the shorts and the pink wife beater, leaving Thalia with the grey sweatpants and a green tight fitting spaghetti strep tank top.

"Washroom's right over there." Rachel pointed to a closed door at the very back of her cave. Annabeth and Thalia glanced at eachother for a moment….before the two of them sprinted towards the door. Rachel dived out of the way, and landed on her bed with a loud _thump_.

"Hey, watch it!" Rachel exclaimed, however, she went ignored as she heard a loud slam.

"That's so not fair, Thalia! Open up! I got here first!" Rachel looked over her shoulder and saw Annabeth banging on the door, looking like she's gonna kick it open at any moment.

"If you got here first, then why aren't you here instead of me!" Thalia shouted back. Rachel had to laugh out loud to that.

"Nice one, Thals!" She yelled. Annabeth looked over her shoulder and glared at the oracle. Rachel grinned at the blonde innocently.

Sometime later, Thalia finally opened the door and stepped out of the room so Annabeth could go inside. The said blonde glared at the older girl, and stomped inside said room, slamming it shut.

"You could put your clothes on that corner over there," Rachel said as she pointed to a small, clean corner near the bathroom.

"Thanks, Rachel." Thalia said as she walked over to the corner and neatly tossed her clothes there, before heading back onto the bed.

They chatted for a little while, mostly Rachel asking Thalia about her life in Canada, before Annabeth finally got out of the washroom. The blonde haired demi-goddess sat on the bed as well and joined in on their conversation.

Eventually Rachel and Annabeth had fallen asleep, leaving Thalia lying on her back on Rachel's large king size bed, for some reason, not sleepy what so ever. She figured that after two years of staying up late partying, clubbing, studying or working overtime, and occasionally doing all of the above, she's just not used to sleeping this early. Normally, she'd be feeling sleepy by two in the morning at the latest.

Thalia let out a silent breath in which case, she hadn't realized that she had been holding, and did her best to fall asleep, but, alas, nothing worked. Her eye twitched out of sheer boredom, and finally, she silently got off the bed and headed towards the corner in which her clothes lay.

Thalia crouched down and grabbed the thick violet sweater she wore that day…err…the day before, and slipped it on. She stood up and walked over to the entrance of the cave. Thalia threw a glance over her shoulder, making sure that Annabeth and Rachel were still asleep, before she exited the large cave.

Thalia knew it was way past curfew, but she couldn't sleep, she needed to do _something_ that would eventually tire her out. As she walked along the camp's perimeters, she thought about what she should do to pass the time.

The arena? No. No one's there, and besides, it'll probably end up waking the entire camp up.

The lava wall? Again, not a good idea, seeing as Mr. D would probably kill her for doing so, that and it was turned off and she really didn't want learn how to turn it back on.

Arts and Crafts? Thalia shuddered at the thought of being in there. The last time she was there, well, the Hephaestus cabin had forbidden her from even setting foot inside the building, and Thalia happily complied with their request.

The archery range? Thalia shrugged and began walking to the archery range. It's something she's good at, she learned not to make a sound while shooting the bow, and she won't get into any trouble if she got caught.

A few moments after she decided to go to the archery range, she realized that the last time someone had snuck off in the middle of the night and went to the archery range, he accidentally shot an arrow, and it somehow landed on _him_, ever since then, Chiron had banned people from going to any training facilities after curfew.

Then again, it should have been clear enough after learning that no one is to be outside of their cabins after curfew.

Thalia felt her eye twitch again; the twenty three year old sighed, and decided to just walk over to the beach.

So long as she actually doesn't _step_ inside the water, Poseidon won't drown her, or send any sea monsters with intentions on killing her… But just to make sure that nothing _would_ happen, she would sit at least a couple meters away from the water itself.

Thalia took her time going towards the beach, admiring the beauty of nature that surrounded her as she walked. To any mortal, it would seem so serene, so peaceful, and none would guess that the woods that she's currently walking through are host to the training grounds of future demi-god heroes.

By the time she got to the beach, she found a nice tree near the sand and sat down in front of it, her back fitting perfectly at the curve of the tree's trunk.

Thalia looked at the scene before her. The full moon was out, and there was not a cloud in the sky. And she noticed that the stars were shining a little brighter than they usually would, but Thalia quickly dismissed the idea, reminding herself that she spent the last two years living in a city that was surprisingly a lot like New York, and because of this, she can't see the stars as clearly as she could now. She saw the patterns that made the constellations such as Orion, Pegasus, Ursa Major, Andromeda, Hercules, and a whole bunch of others that Thalia didn't really bother naming.

Her bright blue eyes then landed on one of the newest constellations in the sky: Zoe Nightshade. Thalia chuckled softly. She could just imagine Zoe sneering at her for breaking her oath.

No need to do so, Zoe. The other Huntresses have already done that. Thalia thought bitterly.

Thalia then shifted her eyes to the other constellations in the sky.

Despite the fact that she's not feeling tired in the slightest, she felt at peace, a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long time. The last time she felt like this would have been the moment in which she joined the Hunt four years ago.

Thalia sighed in contentment, her breath fogging slightly at the chilly night air—though, she can't say that she's feeling cold—and continued to gaze at the vast sky above, and for a moment, her mind cleared. No thoughts echoed through her mind, just plain, clear nothingness.

She didn't know how long she sat there, nor did she care, she just wanted to make this moment last for as long as she could. Thalia knew that she had to go back to the cave soon, but just for now, she just wanted to have some peace and quiet, and not think about anything until she has to go.

Thalia loved the silence that surrounded her, the much needed peace and quiet…

_Crunch!_

However, the peaceful serenity was suddenly broken by a noise that sounded like a twig being stepped on right behind her. Thalia then started hearing light footsteps walking towards her.

After two years, she still has the instincts and senses of a hunter.

"You know, if you stay out here any longer, you'll end up getting sick." Thalia froze, suddenly recognizing the voice next to her. Thalia tore her gaze from the sky to the beach in front of her, refusing to look at the owner of the voice.

Apollo sighed and sat down next to her.

This is going to be harder than I thought, Apollo thought.

Thalia could feel heat radiate off of the sun god. On the outside, she remained stoic and expressionless, while on the inside, her thoughts and emotions were in turmoil.

So much for no thinking, she thought bitterly.

"What's it to you?" She said, replying to his question.

"I just don't want you to get sick." He said.

Silence enveloped the two, and Thalia didn't know whether to be thankful for this silence or to despise it. It was tense, and she didn't like it at all, she wanted it to go away, she wanted to just jump up and leave it all behind.

And finally, after what seemed like hours, she decided to break the silence.

"Why did you leave?" But Apollo had beaten her to it. There was a hint of hurt in his voice, but Thalia didn't want to believe it.

"Didn't Artemis tell you?" She replied bitterly. Even the thought about what happened two years ago that got her kicked out made her angry, then the incident that made her decision to tell Artemis about it.

The silence is all she needed.

Apollo could sense her anger and resentment, and he doesn't blame her for it. In fact, Artemis _did_ tell him that she had broken her oath. He appeared right outside the huntresses' camp a couple days after Thalia's dismissal. Normally, it would have been Thalia who greeted him, since it was usually the Lieutenant's job to do so, but that day, it wasn't Thalia who had greeted him, it was Phoebe.

The young girl said what she had to say and then she brought him to Artemis's tent. That's where he had learned about Thalia—after a good beating from Artemis, of course, and after that, he was in pain for a while, which was ironic, seeing as he is the god of medicine—and after her found out that _he_ was the cause of Thalia's dismissal, well, to him, it hurt a lot more than the beating that his sister have given him.

Apollo quickly pushed these thoughts to the back of his head, and continued gazing at Thalia.

The said demi-goddess could feel his eyes on her, and she didn't know what to feel.

This happens every time she's with Apollo, she realized. Whenever they're together, she doesn't know what to feel, her thoughts were always a jumbled mess, and then she gets confused about everything going on around her.

"Why are you here?" She asked out of the blue, bringing Apollo out of his thoughts.

"I wanted to see you." He answered truthfully.

He didn't want to wait until she was alone during the day, and when he saw her walking around the camp perimeters by herself, well, he took the chance. He wanted to tell her how he missed her, how much he regretted doing what he did to her two years ago, about how much he wanted her back, how sorry he was for ruining her career as a Hunter of Artemis, something that was very important to her.

Meanwhile, Thalia was—unsurprisingly—not sure how to react, and so she settled with a blank look on her face, and continued her gaze out into the beach, refusing to look at him, refusing to give him that satisfaction.

"Thalia, please, look at me." Apollo murmured, he reached out and cupped her chin with his thumb and his index finger, gently turning her head so that he looked into her bright blue eyes. With her features more matured and with the angle of moonlight that shined on her, Apollo couldn't help but stare at her. She looked beautiful. Her lips were a soft pink, her cheek bones high, and her eyes…

They were still a wonderful shade of blue, but it held confusion and turmoil rather than a certain spark that Apollo had always admired. The one that said _don't mess with me or you'll regret it_.

After a few moments, he began to speak.

"I missed you, Thalia…" He said, and paused for a moment, briefly wondering if Thalia would yell at him, but there was no reaction. Apollo hesitantly took this chance to continue.

"I…I really missed you, Thalia and I'm so sorry for everything that happened two years ago…and—" Apollo was abruptly cut off by Thalia jerking out of his grip.

"You think you can just come here and apologize, and expect me to come back to you!" She exclaimed, loud enough for him to wince, but not so loud that any campers that just so happen to pass by won't hear what she's saying.

"I lost a home, Apollo, because of what happened! I don't want to make the same mistake again; I don't want to be treated like I'm just another fling." She said angrily, while referring to the time where she caught Apollo making out with a tree nymph.

And with that, she stood up, and stormed away from him. She knew she shouldn't have done that, but the thought of him apologizing and then expecting her to run back to him after that…it made her sick to the stomach. Thalia didn't want to go through the pain of finding out that he had been with another girl. She knew it was impossible for him to make a commitment, him being a god and all, but he sure made it as though that he was actually trying.

Thalia glanced over her shoulder, just to make sure that no one was following her, before breaking off into a sprint, running all the way back to Rachel's cave.

Thalia soon made it back to Rachel's cave, and paused in front of it, catching her breath before entering inside. The place was still dark, and Thalia could see faint outlines of both Annabeth and Rachel herself. She let out a breath of relief and as she took off her thick violet sweater, she walked over to the corner in which her clothes lay, and silently set the thick material down. Thalia silently walked over to the large bed and laid down on it. Despite the fact that she was still not feeling tired in the slightest, she was glad that she's back in here.

Thalia glanced over at the clock which read _1:53 a.m._ and decided to at least to try and get some sleep. After all, she'll be going on a quest tomorrow.

**October, 11, 2011, with Thalia**

"Thalia! Wake up! You gotta go!" Thalia felt herself shaking, and reluctantly opened her sleepy eyes, and saw Rachel shaking her awake, with Annabeth chuckling in the background.

"I'm up, I'm up…" Thalia said grumpily. She sat up and yawned while stretching her arms and legs.

"Good, 'cause you, Percy and Nico are leaving in an hour." Annabeth said, while watching Thalia get out of the bed.

"Ok…I'm gonna go shower, then get changed…" Thalia said tiredly, before trudging to the washroom.

"Thalia? Your clothes are still in your car…" Annabeth said. All the sleep that was in Thalia immediately rushed out of her body.

"Ah crap…" She muttered.

"You're just lucky I have clothes that should fit you." Rachel cut in. Before Thalia could say anything, an article of clothing was immediately shoved into her hands, and was then shoved in the washroom.

A little while later, Thalia had finally come out of the bathroom, wearing dark wash skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt, with her thick purple sweater that she wore from the day before.

After both Annabeth and Rachel had gotten changed, the three raced towards the dining pavilion—with Rachel yelling at them to slow down—knowing that Thalia has fifteen minutes max to eat and get her things together before she, Nico and Percy had to leave.

The three of them finally made it to the dining pavilion and the three divided up to go to their respective tables: Rachel sitting at the Head table, Thalia at the Zeus table, and Annabeth at the Athena table.

Thalia smiled when she saw her plate filled with pancakes, something that she hadn't had in a while…mostly out of laziness to actually make some.

When it was her turn to go up and give up part of her breakfast to the gods, she gave the top pancake, which, in her opinion, looks as though it's the fluffiest, the most golden, and the most mouth water, delicious looking pancake out of all the pancakes on her plate.

Thalia's stomach growled as she watched her food go up into smoke.

"For Zeus…" She muttered under her breath. Thalia watched as the fire burned a little brighter and she could smell the pancake burning.

Her thoughts were interrupted again by the grumbling and aching of her stomach.

She stepped away from the fire, and walked back to her table. As soon as she sat down, Thalia immediately began eating the remaining pancakes that she has.

Three words.

_They. Were. Awesome._

They're the most delicious pancakes that Thalia had ever eaten! They were so warm and sweet, and the syrup that came with it only made it taste even better, and by the gods…yum…

I really should stop thinking about pancakes…Thalia thought to herself.

She continued eating the delicious breakfast, trying not to think about the pancakes, and tried her best to think about some other things.

However, during her mini-quest to try and think about other things, her mind did eventually wander, but her choice of thought was one that confuses her the most.

"_I missed you, Thalia…"_ Apollo's voice rang in her head. Thalia wondered if he really meant what he said, because despite outward appearances, she missed him too. She missed the way—

Stop it Thalia! You're only making it worse. She ordered herself.

Another thing she's been trying to do over the last two years: trying to get over Apollo. It obviously didn't work seeing as she still saw him every day, by rising and setting the sun, thus always reminding her of him.

Her mood suddenly plummeted and before she knew it, she was angrily stabbing at her food, and shoving it into her mouth, and before she knew it, her plate was practically empty.

Thalia sighed and told herself to slow down. She picked up one of the last pieces of bacon and chewed it thoughtfully.

She did her best not to think of Apollo, and glanced over to Annabeth, finally deciding to take a good look at the girl.

Her curly blonde hair was now wavy and reached mid back. Annabeth still had the same calculating grey eyes and the California girl tan. In fact, Thalia noted, Annabeth hadn't really changed much, except for the fact that she just looked older, and taller, Thalia realized. She noticed how Annabeth was getting really excited over something, and at a closer inspection, Thalia realized it was a blue print.

All of a sudden, loud laughter erupted from somewhere. Thalia glanced over to the source of the loud laughter which was coming from the Hermes table, pointing and laughing at the fact that none of the Hephaestus kids could get out of their seats. Thalia couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of them.

She picked up another piece of bacon and chewed it just as thoughtfully, glancing at the Hephaestus table every now and then, which by the way, was currently getting help from the Hermes kids to get them off the table. It was pretty funny to watch them. Come to think of it, it looked like that the entire camp was just laughing at them.

Thalia chuckled at them once more, before quickly glancing over to the Poseidon table. Just like herself, Percy was sitting by himself at his table. If it weren't for the fact that each demi-god has to sit at the table that is dedicated at his or her Olympian parent, Thalia would've probably went over and sat with him. That goes for Nico as well. They're the children of the Big Three, and thus, their scents are more powerful than other demi-gods whose parents were one of the minor gods, or one of the other Olympian gods, none of the others would understand what it feels like to be born only to be a constant reminder to everyone that you were created out of a broken oath—not including Nico—one that could very well determine both outcomes of Olympus and Western Civilization.

Thalia blinked and pushed those thoughts out of her head, not wanting to come off as creepy. She quickly glanced over to the Athena table and still saw Annabeth talking to her siblings and pointing to something on the blueprint before fishing something out of her shorts pocket. They were keys.

Keys…

"My car!" She said to herself, just realizing that Annabeth had taken her car the night before and drove off somewhere. I

f she's going on a quest, she's gonna need to know if she'll be taking her car, and if she isn't, she's gonna have to make sure that nothing happens to it, more specifically, that the Hermes Cabin doesn't steal it and go on a joy ride somewhere, leaving her with problems that might involve the CIA or something. Thalia shuddered slightly at the thought of what some of the Hermes kids might do to her car. She may have got along fine with a lot of the Hermes kids, but you can't be too careful, _especially_ when it involves really nice and really expensive things such as a car.

She decided to ask Annabeth about her car after breakfast is over.

About five minutes later, breakfast was finally over. Thalia cleared her plate and quickly walked over to Annabeth.

"Hey Thalia," Annabeth said with a smile. Thalia thought it was way too early to be smiling so much at this time in the morning.

"Hey Annabeth," Thalia replied, "Do you know what happened to my car?" She asked.

"It's in the garage, where the camp vans are," Annabeth replied, "Oh, and here are your keys." She said while fishing through her pocket and took out a familiar set of keys with an electric blue lightning bolt keychain hanging off it. There were three keys, two for her apartment and the building, and the third were her car keys. Thalia grinned as Annabeth handed the keys to her.

"Thanks Annabeth." Thalia said.

"No problem." Annabeth said with a grin.

"Annabeth!" The two glanced over to see one of Annabeth's brothers, Malcolm, waving her over.

"Be right there!" Annabeth yelled back, before turning her attention to Thalia, "I'll be at the gates to see you guys off." Annabeth said, before turning and jogging over to Malcolm.

Thalia shrugged and began walking before someone called her.

"Thalia!" The black haired demi-goddess turned and saw Percy walk towards her. Thalia smiled at the younger demi-god.

"Hey." She said. Percy nodded.

"Hey," He replied, "Chiron asked me to pass on a message," Thalia nodded, urging him to continue, "He said that we're gonna end up needing to use your car."

Thalia nodded.

"Uhh…do you know where the garages are then?" She asked, slightly sheepishly.

"They're right next to the farmhouse, shouldn't be hard to miss seeing as it has 'garage' written on the front." Percy replied.

"Thanks, so I'll meet you and Nico at the gate?" She asked.

"Yeah, see you then." He replied before walking off.

"See ya." Thalia said, slightly miffed by the fact that he just brushed her off…then again, she did leave the States without anyone knowing for two years, and when people _did_ find out, said people started worrying about her, and then she reappeared right out of the blue with a completely different appearance. Yeah, that would definitely cause some grudges against her, so she can't really blame him for acting that way.

Thalia sighed and began walking, off towards the garages.

"This," She began, "Is gonna be a _long_ quest." She continued walking towards the garages, completely ignorant of what is yet to come…

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**So what do ya think about this one? if there's any grammatical errors, I'm sorry about that... I did the reviewing while I'm half awake :P so yeah**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's chapter 6! Funny story to this one actually :P I originally wanted it to be a little bit longer, but I ended up typing up approximately 18 pgs in Microsoft Word, and I thought that was way too long, so I took half the chapter and pasted onto a new document and it turned out to be the right length for this chapter :P**

**So yeah**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, however, I do own the OCs.**

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**October, 11, 2011, with Thalia**

It took a while for Thalia to actually find her car, but after a while of searching and asking, she finally found the garage that houses her car.

She opened up the garage, and lo and behold, she saw her car, completely unscathed and unharmed in any sort of way.

After she made sure that the door won't close on her, Thalia made her way inside. She fished her keys out of her pocket and opened the driver's door. Thalia sat down and slammed the door shut, and turned on her car; she put the car into reverse and began driving out of the garage. Once her car was fully out of the garage, Thalia stepped out of her car, and closed the garage. Every now and then she glanced over her shoulder, out of sheer paranoia, just to make sure that her car was still there.

"Great…" She muttered to herself, "Now I'm acting like dad." She said sarcastically as she closed up the garage door. Thunder rumbled in the distance after she said that.

"SORRY!" Thalia yelled to the sky, trying to sound that she actually meant it. But no one can deny what she just said.

There was no thunder in response and Thalia hoped that Zeus had let her off the hook for the comment.

It's very common knowledge that Zeus _is_ paranoid, and no one blames him for being so. After that one time when all the other gods tied him somewhere, and refused to let him go, it would've shocked everyone if he wasn't paranoid ever since.

Speaking of Zeus, Thalia remembered her promise to him, about calling Emma before she leaves for her quest. Seeing as she needed to get her car down at the entrance before she actually has to leave, she may as well call her now, before she forgets.

The black haired demi-goddess looked around and pulled out her cell phone, and dialed in a familiar phone number.

She placed the phone by her ear as her phone rang, and soon enough a woman's voice answered the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Emma." Thalia said.

"Thalia! Is everything alright over there?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, I'm just getting my car out before Percy, Nico and I leave." Thalia replied.

"Really? Please, tell me about the quest." Thalia complied and told Emma about what the quest is about, and told her the prophecy that Rachel had said.

"You have a new oracle?" Emma asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you about her?"

"No, I don't think so. Maybe you did, but I just forgot." Emma said lightly. Thalia laughed at the older woman.

They continued talking for a little while longer, before Thalia had to go, otherwise, there probably will be a search party for her.

Emma laughed.

"Alright now. Good luck, and call me as soon as you finish your quest." Emma said.

The two hung up, and Thalia got inside her car and she began driving off towards the entrance.

By the time Thalia had finally made it to the gate, she already saw Percy, Nico, Annabeth, Grover and Chiron already there.

She drove down to the entrance, and stopped in front of the small group, and got out of her car.

When Thalia had finally gotten out of her car, she briefly greeted Grover, before turning her attention to Chiron, who addressed Percy, Nico and herself.

"For good luck." Chiron said as he held out something to Nico. Nico raised his palm, and Chiron placed a green stone on his hand. He did the same thing to Percy and Thalia.

"What I have given you is an aragonite," He glanced at Nico, "An emerald," He glances at Thalia, "And an Aquamarine," Here he glances at Percy, "I hope that the three of you will find some use for these." Chiron said with a smile.

"Now you best be going. You were supposed to have left a while ago." He said before anyone else could say anything.

Everyone quickly said their good-byes before the children of the Big Three piled themselves into Thalia's car, with Thalia, herself, driving. Percy and Nico fought over who got shot gun—which Thalia thought was pretty funny considering their ages—so Annabeth made them both sit at the back seat, while all of Thalia's possessions stayed at the front.

A few minutes after Thalia began driving, Nico decided to break the silence that enveloped the three of them.

"So… whose stepmother we're seeing first?" He asked.

I have no idea, Thalia thought.

"I have no idea." Percy said aloud.

"Way to take the words right out of my mouth, Perce." Thalia said as she glanced at the rearview mirror to take a look at the younger demi-god.

Percy shrugged at her.

"We'll go see Persephone first." Percy said.

"Sure." Thalia agreed.

"Hey, don't I have any say in this!" Nico exclaimed.

"Isn't the entrance to Hades halfway across the country or something?" Thalia retorted.

"Yeah, but—" Nico got cut off.

"So we'll start with the farthest, then we work our way up." Thalia said.

"But-!" Percy then cut off Nico again.

"Thalia does have a point, Nico."

"Persephone-!" Thalia glared at him from the rearview mirror.

"Is the first one we'll visit." Thalia cut off firmly.

"But she-!" Percy cut him off this time.

"Then you could decide who we'll visit next." Percy insisted.

"WILL YOU GUYS STOP CUTTING ME OFF!" Nico yelled, frustrated that his "cousins" wouldn't listen to him.

"We all know that our step-mothers hate us, Nico," Percy said. Nico's eye twitched in sheer frustration.

"She turned me into a _dandelion_. A _weed_. For the _second_ time, after I asked her what's _wrong_. I honestly didn't do _anything_ that would tick her off. And you know what she said after my dad made her turn me back?" Nico didn't wait for them, "She said that if I even do so much as _look_ at her, she's gonna send me to work as a guard at Tartarus for a hundred years, and trust me, even the _ghosts_ who even _worked_ there went temporarily _insane_. Imagine what would happen to a living, breathing human being." Nico hissed, "And might I add that she says what she means."

Percy blinked at Nico in surprise, while Thalia temporarily lost her control of her car out of surprise, causing Percy to crash into Nico while Thalia got her driving under control.

"Gods Thalia, crash your car into a tree why don't you?" Nico said sarcastically as he clutched onto the seat.

Thalia ignored his comment.

"And besides, somehow Persephone had gotten Hades to forbid me from entering the Underworld for three weeks. So either way, she has to be the last one." Nico huffed, while crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't think he'll mind if we tell him what's going on." Percy said. Nico snorted at the thought.

"I got a message from him saying that if I ever came back to the underworld before the three weeks are up, he'll make sure that I work for Demeter on one of her farms for a couple years, quest or not." Nico said. Thalia and Percy blinked at the youngest demi-god.

"Oh, and Demeter hates me by the way." Nico added.

"When did that happen?" Thalia asked.

"Couple weeks ago, but I'm allowed to go back by the sixteenth." Nico said.

"In that case, looks like Persephone's off our list as to who has to go first." Percy said.

Dead silence enveloped the car.

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO HERA!"

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO AMPHITRITE!"

Percy and Thalia yelled at the same time.

Thalia glared at Percy from the rearview mirror, while Percy glared back.

"Did you hear any of the stories that Hera did to any child of Zeus?" She asked irritably.

"Did you know that she curses all of Poseidon's children whenever they aren't hers?" **(1)** Percy retorted.

"Did you know what happened to Hercules? Hera made him go insane and he ended up killing his own wife _and_ kids!" Percy narrowed his eyes.

"Did you hear about Theseus? I heard from Tyson that Amphitrite cursed him as soon as she found out about him, and now he's currently sitting on a table bench in the underworld for the rest of eternity!" Percy replied.

"You hear about Minos?" Thalia shot back.

"What about Orion?"

Thalia and Percy continued arguing for a little while longer before Nico had enough.

"Guys…"

"She wants to kill me!" Percy all but shouted.

"You're not the only one!" Thalia yelled back.

"Guys!" Still went unheard.

"Does she have a history of wanting to kill every demi-god child of Zeus?"

"Does she insult you every chance she gets?" Thalia and Percy were now having a stare down.

"Guys!"

"WHAT!" Thalia and Percy shouted at the same time, both glaring at Nico.

"Thalia, keep your eyes on the road!" Nico shouted. The car swiveled out of control for the second time, and it drove off the asphalt and onto farmland. Thalia soon regained some control over her car, and soon brought the vehicle back onto the asphalt.

"Thalia, you really gotta work on your driving." Nico muttered under his breath. While Percy nodded in agreement, as he too clutched the seat.

"Hey, my driving isn't that bad!" Thalia defended herself.

"Say that again after you try to kill us with that driving of yours!" Nico retorted.

"As I said before, my driving isn't that bad." Thalia replied.

"Says the girl who's going over the speed limit by fifty." Nico said.

"Alright, so I speed up a little." Thalia admitted reluctantly.

"Thalia, slow down, you're gonna end up getting pulled over." Percy said as she glanced out the back window a couple times.

"Alright, fine." Thalia grumbled as she slowed down to the max speed limit.

"Happy?" Nico smirked.

"Very." Thalia rolled her eyes and focused on the road ahead of her.

"We still don't know who we're gonna see first." Nico said.

Thalia glanced at her clock on the driver's deck. It was almost lunch. She also noticed that she's running out of gas.

Great, she thought, now I have to find somewhere to refill this thing.

"I have an idea," Thalia began.

"One that won't end up getting us killed, I hope." Nico muttered quietly.

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that," Thalia said while glaring at Nico from the rear view mirror.

"Anyways, what I was going to say was that I remember passing by this gas station on my way here, so maybe we should stop there, and get something to eat, and decide who we're gonna see first." Thalia suggested.

"Sounds good." Percy agreed. Nico shrugged and nodded. It was silent for a little while, and Thalia can't stand the silent. She felt fidgety and she could tell that Nico and Percy were feeling the same way too.

"Hey Thalia?" Nico started, "Can you turn on the radio?"

To say that she was relieved that Nico said something—for the first time, might I add—is an understatement.

Thalia nodded and turned on the radio, and soon enough, The Offspring's "_You're Gonna Go Far Kid_" filled the car.

_Show me how to lie  
You're getting better all the time  
And turning all against the one  
Is an art that's hard to teach_

Thalia heard faint thumping from the back, and quickly glanced at the back seat and saw Nico tapping his hand against the arm rest and bobbing his head against the music. She smirked slightly and turned up the volume.

_Another clever word  
Sets off an unsuspecting herd  
And as you get back into line  
A mob jumps to their feet_

She could faintly hear Nico mumbling along with the words, and Percy whistling the tune. Thalia smirked again and opened her mouth to sing along at the top of her lungs.

_"Now dance, fucker, dance_  
_Man, he never had a chance_  
_And no one even knew_  
_It was really only you"_

Percy and Nico burst out in laughter, and sang along with her, all three of them singing loud and out of tune, but none of them caring.

_"And now you steal away_  
_Take him out today_  
_Nice work you did_  
_You're gonna go far, kid_

_With a thousand lies_  
_And a good disguise_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_When you walk away_  
_Nothing more to say_  
_See the lightning in your eyes_  
_See 'em running for their lives"_

Thalia, Nico and Percy were all laughing, a stark contrast to their arguing just moments before.

_"Slowly out of line_  
_And drifting closer in your sights_  
_So play it out I'm wide awake_  
_It's a scene about me_  
_There's something in your way_  
_And now someone is gonna pay_  
_And if you can't get what you want_  
_Well it's all because of me"_

"Step on it, Thals!" Percy exclaimed. Thalia laughed and her car sped up. She briefly thought that it was kind of ironic for him to say that, seeing as he's the one who told her to slow down.

_Now dance, fucker, dance_  
_Man, I never had a chance_  
_And no one even knew_  
_It was really only you_

_And now you'll lead the way_  
_Show the light of day_  
_Nice work you did_  
_You're gonna go far, kid_  
_Trust, deceived!_

_With a thousand lies_  
_And a good disguise_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_When you walk away_  
_Nothing more to say_  
_See the lightning in your eyes_  
_See 'em running for their lives_

_Now dance, fucker, dance_  
_He never had a chance_  
_And no one even knew_  
_It was really only you_

_So dance, fucker, dance_  
_I never had a chance_  
_It was really only you_

_With a thousand lies_  
_And a good disguise_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_When you walk away_  
_Nothing more to say_  
_See the lightning in your eyes_  
_See 'em running for their lives_

_Clever alibis_  
_Lord of the flies_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_Hit 'em right between the eyes_  
_When you walk away_  
_Nothing more to say_  
_See the lightning in your eyes_  
_See 'em running for their lives"_

As the song ended, Thalia saw the gas station with the diner near it.

"Here we are." Thalia said as she pulled up to the station. The three of them got out of the car, and Thalia grabbed her purse.

The two younger demi-gods stretched their muscles, sighing in contentment, both glad that they're out of the car for a little while.

"I can finally start feeling my legs." Nico said with a content smile on his face.

_Grumble, grumble…_

Thalia and Nico both looked at Percy. The son of Poseidon blushed embarrassingly at the looks his "cousins" gave him.

"Hehe, sorry," He said sheepishly.

Thalia sighed and pulled out her wallet from her purse. It wasn't anything special, just a sleek black wallet that carries I.D. gift cards, her credit and debit cards, golden drachmas and two hundred dollars in American. With her working overtime quite frequently, she makes a lot more than the average employee at the museum.

Thalia pulled out a twenty and handed it over to Percy.

"Here, you and Nico go buy something to eat, while I go refill the gas." Thalia said.

"You sure?" Percy asked.

"Percy, if I wasn't sure, then I wouldn't be giving this to you." Thalia retorted. Percy nodded and both him and Nico headed inside the diner, leaving Thalia to refill the gas tank.

**With Nico and Percy**

When the two entered the diner, they were immediately greeted by a pretty waitress.

"Hey guys, my name's Jenny, and I'm gonna be your waitress," She said. She has chocolate brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, and brown eyes of the same shade.

"How many people?" She asked.

"Three." Percy answered. Jenny nodded.

"Alrighty, if you can just follow me, please." She said kindly. Nico and Percy followed the young waitress to a booth that's right next to the window, one in which they can see Thalia clearly.

Percy's stomach began to grumble once more.

"You really gotta eat more." Nico commented.

"Shut up…" Percy shot back, while glancing out of the window. Nico followed his gaze outside, and saw Thalia putting some gas inside her car.

"Ya know, she still hasn't told us where she disappeared to…" Nico brought up.

"True…" Percy agreed.

"Hey guys, ready to order?" A new voice asked. The two demi-gods turned and saw Jenny standing in front of them.

"Not yet," Percy said as he turned to face the older woman, "Give us a few minutes please." The waitress nodded and walked away to serve another table.

The two demi-gods waited until she was out of earshot before returning back to their conversation.

"So…any idea as to where she disappeared to?" Percy asked. Nico shook his head 'no'.

"My guess is as good as yours. Like what Chiron said, no one knew where she went except for Artemis, and Thalia didn't exactly clarify as to where she was going." Nico said.

Percy shook his head.

"Sometimes I wonder how you're in ninth grade." Percy mumbled. Nico glared at him.

"I'll let that comment slide for now." He growled. Percy looked at him innocently.

The two of them continued talking for a bit longer, before Percy caught something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped talking and looked outside the window.

"Then she—Percy? You ok?" Nico asked. Percy was silent for a moment.

"I am, but look." He said as he nodded to the scene outside the window. Nico looked outside and they both saw this random guy talking to Thalia, and the said demi-goddess looked like she wanted to kill the guy, and no one blames her. The guy looked likes a creep.

Thalia punched him in the face and said something to the creep, as he fell onto the ground and said creep waved his hand over all the while holding his face, and two other creeps went up to her as well all the while he got up.

"Nico, c'mon." Percy said as he stood up, and began walking towards the entrance of the diner.

Nico stood up and was about to follow him, before bumping into Jenny.

"Sorry, our…uhh….cousin, is currently being harassed by these people. We'll be back in a few." Nico said politely, before rushing out of the diner, and caught up with Percy…

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**(1) I completly made that one up. According to all the Greek myths about any child of Poseidon I could get my hands on, none of them said that Amphitrite cursed Poseidons kids. I repeat, I made this one up!**

**I really hope this chapter's alright. I'm pretty tired right now, and I did a small amount of reviewing this chapter, so again, I'm sorry for any grammatical, spelling, or any errors that I made in this chapter.**

**REVIEW PLEASE! :P**


	7. Chapter 7

**I finished this chapter sooner than I thought! =D Once again, it's pretty late, and I'm pretty tired, and I'm practically half asleep atm =P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series, I only own the plot and the OCs.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Same day, with Thalia**

Thalia watched as Percy and Nico turned around and entered the small diner. She took out her wallet once more; pulled out her American Express card, and then walked over to the gas pump. As she was refilling the gas tank, she took a look around the gas station/diner area.

The diner itself was…small—for lack of a better word—it was around the size of a small bungalow. It reminded Thalia of those small diners off the road in the movies. Most of the time, it just meant bad news, and hopefully, this one wasn't one of them.

As her shockingly blue eyes scanned the area, her eyes landed on a group of bikers, most of which were all much, _much_ older than her, and sadly, all staring at her…in a lustful way too…

Thalia shuddered slightly. Ok, this is just like in the movies.

I _knew_ that I shouldn't have let Liz have a horror movie marathon at my place…Thalia thought; annoyed at the fact that she's starting to creep herself out.

Thalia finished refilling the gas tank, and quickly paid for the gas, not wanting to have any more unneeded ideas enter her mind.

She quickly walked over to the driver's side and got in, and drove off to an empty parking lot. When she got out of her car, she heard someone yelling.

"Hey!" Thalia froze slightly and turned around and saw one of the bikers walking up to her. She had to force herself to not let her eye twitch out of annoyance.

"What?" She answered coldly, all of a sudden, her tone of voice changed to the one she used while she was still the lieutenant of Artemis.

The biker grinned, bringing a whole new level of disgusting.

"I've seen ya 'round," He said, "How's 'bout ya ditch those losers ya came with, and we can…get ta know each other betta?" He asked.

"So…you've been stalking me." Thalia retorted. Despite him wearing sunglasses, Thalia figured that he may have looked at her in surprise. He was about to say something, but Thalia cut him off.

"And to answer your question. No, I'm not going to ditch them, and even if I did, I wouldn't go anywhere near _you_." Thalia shot back. The biker just grinned at her, showing his disgusting yellow teeth.

"Hehe…feisty…I _like_ it." He chuckled as he stepped closer to Thalia, who took a step back.

"C'mon now," He said as he took yet another step towards her.

"No! Get away from me." Thalia growled. She can feel electricity charge at her finger tips and unbeknownst to her, her eyes changed its shade was now electric blue, which was fitting, considering the amount of electricity coursing throughout her body.

The man ignored her and took yet another step. Thalia growled once more and her fist clenched, she could feel electricity running through her veins and concentrated on her clenched fist and she could barely register what happened next. She drew her arm back and gave the creepy biker a good punch in the face—only using a small amount of electric energy—and knocking him onto the ground.

"I told you to get away from me." Thalia raged.

The creepy biker growled and waved his hand over, all the while getting up. Suddenly, Thalia saw two other creepy bikers walk up to her. One has the same creepy smile that the first one had, while the other looked really ticked at Thalia for punching their "leader", while the guy she punched addressed her.

"You know what happens to girls who misbehave?" He asked.

"No, and frankly, I don't really care, nor do I want to find out." Thalia replied, while glaring at the three of them.

The three old bikers ignored her and continued advancing towards her.

"Get away from her!" Thalia didn't know whether to be thankful that she recognized the voice, or to be pissed because she could've handled it herself.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Percy and Nico walking towards the bikers, Percy looking ticked and Nico looking at them with pity.

"What, she your girlfriend, kid?" One of the bikers asked.

"No, she's my cousin. Now get away from her." Percy demanded, his tone was commanding. One that clearly states: _do as I say, or you'll regret it later._

Sadly, none of the bikers heard the warning tone that lay underneath Percy's words.

Probably because their egos are so big, they may as well be deaf. Thalia thought.

"Sorry, but she's mine." He said. Nico's expression went from pitying to one of disgust.

"No she isn't. She doesn't belong to anyone," Nico spoke up, "Now get away from her, or else..." He continued in a warning tone.

The biker who first came up to Thalia sneered at Nico and got into his face.

"Or else _what_?" He said. Nico wrinkled his nose in disgust. With the guy's yellowing teeth, greasy beard and horrible breath, who wouldn't?

"Or else _this_." Nico sneered in disgust. Then everything happened in a blur; Nico ended up punching the guys' jaw. The biker stumbled backwards, but he was the caught by the other two. The guy growled and was about charge towards Nico but Percy stuck out his foot, tripping the guy in Nico's general direction, while Thalia stood in front of said demi-god, and gave the biker yet another good punch to the face, this time, everyone can hear a sickening crack.

The biker yelled in pain, and fell to the ground. He struggled to get up, but his face hurt so much that he just lay there, clutching his cheek.

"You really wanna take us on?" Percy asked the other two. They glanced at each other, before glancing to their "leader" and then glanced at the three demi-gods, and shook their heads furiously.

"Thought so, now get out of here." Percy growled. They nodded and helped up the biker that lay on the ground and the three then walked back to the small area of the gas station, in which they were occupying.

The three of them looked at their retreating figures.

"You ok?" Percy asked Thalia.

"Yeah, thanks guys," She said as she turned around to face them, she had a look on her face that was a cross of both thankfulness and annoyance, "But I could've handled it on my own."

"By the looks of things, I would say that you would've had some trouble with them." Nico remarked. Thalia glared at him.

"I had the situation under control, thank you very much." The three of them then began walking back to the diner.

"By the way, Thals, nice punch." Percy complimented as they stepped foot inside the diner.

Thalia shrugged, and nodded her thanks. As the three made their way to the table that Nico and Percy previously occupied, they noticed the hushed whispers and stares from the staff and other customers.

"What's going on?" Thalia whispered to the other two as they took their seats, Thalia having an entire bench to herself; and sitting across from the two younger demi-gods.

"My guess is as good as yours." Percy replied.

"I guess they saw the mini-fight outside. The whole thing wasn't exactly subtle." Nico added.

"Maybe." Soon enough, Jenny came over by their table and asked their orders.

"I'll have a cheeseburger please." Thalia said to the young waitress. Jenny nodded, and looked over to Percy.

"I'll have the same."

"Same here." Nico said.

"Drinks?" The three demi-gods gave the waitress their drinks.

"Alrighty, I'll be back in a few." Jenny said with a smile. As soon as the young waitress left, Nico focused his attention to Thalia and Percy.

"We still gotta figure out who we're gonna see first." He said in a low, serious tone, very aware of the fact that the three of them are receiving a lot of stares from the customers.

"Right." He heard Percy agree.

"So how're we gonna do this?" Thalia asked.

"I dunno," Nico shrugged.

"I say we should go see Hera first." Percy spoke up, but not so loud in which it would raise the other customers' curiosity; if they did hear anything then there may be attempts to eavesdrop in their private conversation.

"Are you trying to get me killed or something?" Thalia whispered furiously, "If she had it her way, she would killed me on the spot!"

"Same goes for Amphitrite, but not only her, she has Triton and an entire army of sea creatures to back her up." Percy retorted.

"At least you have your dad on your side. I don't know what Zeus would've done if he let Hera had her way." Thalia replied with narrowed eyes.

He'll probably turn me into a tree again. She thought bitterly.

"Here you go!" A cheery voice broke through their conversation. Jenny had arrived with their drinks.

"Thanks." Thalia said as the waitress gave her, her drink.

"It's no problem at all. After giving Glen a good punch in the face, and three times at that!" Jenny shook her head, "It's the least I could do." She said with a smile.

"Who's Glen?" Percy asked. Thalia stared at him blankly.

"It's the guy I punched twice," She said flatly, "Percy, she already mentioned that." Percy didn't say anything after that.

"Why?" Nico asked Jenny, not wanting to say anything to Thalia, knowing that it might ignite yet _another_ disagreement.

"Well, let's just say that he thinks he can get any woman he wants." Jenny answered, and she shook her head, "Anyways, no one had ever stood up to him and his gang and all, so it's a relief to see him get a good right-hook." She grinned at the three as she gingerly placed their drinks in front of them.

Jenny lingered at their table for a moment after she had given Nico's drink.

"I couldn't help but notice that you guys seem to have a hard time deciding something…?" Jenny asked nervously. She was met with three pairs of eyes staring at her with a piercing gaze, it made her nervous, but something told her to keep going.

"I just wanna tell you that whenever I have a hard time deciding something, I usually flip a coin and let that choose for me." She offered with another charming smile, before she walked away so she can serve another table.

The three of them stared at the spot where Jenny stood for a moment.

"You know…that really isn't a bad idea." Percy said.

"For once, I agree with you." Thalia said.

"Anyone got a quarter?" Nico asked. Thalia fished around through her sweater pocket and felt a coin in it. She took it out and saw a Canadian quarter. She shrugged and placed it on the table.

"Here's one." She said. Nico stared it curiously, before glancing to Percy.

"Since we're seeing Persephone last, I'll flip." Nico said as he took the coin into his hands.

"Heads—we're seeing Hera, tails—we're seeing Amphitrite. Got it?" He received two nods, "Good." And with that, Nico flipped the coin.

It felt as though it was in slow motion, and Thalia was anxious as to what the result would be. She _really_ didn't want to see Hera, for obvious reasons. Then again, so did Nico and Percy.

She watched as the coin landed onto Nico's palm, he then quickly flipped it over and onto his other palm, while the previous one was on top of it, preventing any clue as to what the result is.

He carefully removed his hand to show…

"Ha!"

"No! Why!"

"Geez, calm down."

"Calm down! I might probably end up getting killed!"

Nico rolled his eyes.

"Wow Percy," He said while shaking his head.

Percy glared at him.

"Hey, you'd have the same reaction too if you had to go see Persephone." Percy replied.

"But I'm not going first." Nico said with a smirk.

"You're only delaying the inevitable." Percy shot back.

"Says the guy who freaked when he found out that we'll be visiting his step-mother first." Percy glared at Thalia, but softened quickly.

Yes, they're going to be visiting Amphitrite first, Poseidon's immortal wife and Percy Jackson's immortal step-mother who hates him for even breathing.

"I just realized…I never really referred to Amphitrite as my step-mom," He said, "It's always been 'Dad's immortal wife'," He finished.

"Now that you mention it…same here…" Thalia shuddered at the thought of calling Hera her step-mother.

Nico just shrugged.

"Hades thought it would be appropriate if I started referring to Persephone as my step-mom." He said casually, but the look on his face proved otherwise.

It was silent for a moment before Nico decided to change the subject.

"Sooo, Thalia, where've you been for the last two years of our lives?" He asked.

"Didn't you see the quarter?" Thalia replied.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She heard Percy asking.

"Did you bother to _check_ where the coin was made from, Seaweed Brain?" Thalia retorted, using her old nickname for him.

"Sorry, Pinecone face." He shot back, using _his_ old nickname for her.

Nico and Percy took a look at the quarter and saw what's written in small letters.

'_Made in Canada'_

"You were in Canada?" Percy said in surprise as he glanced up.

"Yeah."

"Why Canada?" Nico asked.

"I was born there, ghost boy." Thalia replied. Percy and Nico stared at her.

"What?" Thalia asked.

"You never told us you're Canadian." Percy stated.

"You never asked." She replied.

"Hey Thalia, what's up? By the way, were you born in Canada?" Nico said in a false excited tone, "Yeah, not weird at all." He finished sarcastically. Thalia shrugged.

"Here you go; three cheeseburgers!" They looked up to see Jenny balancing three plates on her arms. She placed each of their foods in front of them, and smiled at the three before she walked away.

"That was quick." Thalia heard Nico say.

"Who cares?" Percy said, "I'm hungry."

Thalia grinned as she picked up her burger and took a big bite out of it. Like Percy, she's also pretty hungry, but she didn't really realize it until after she saw the food in front of her.

"Mmmm….." She tried savoring the food, but decided against it, and quickly finished it.

"You look happy." Nico stated. Thalia looked at him, before ignoring his comment, and continued eating the cheeseburger in her hands.

Nico shrugged and began eating his burger.

The three ate their lunches (or brunch, whatever you guys wanna call it), in a peaceful silence.

When the three of them finished eating, Percy took out the twenty that Thalia had given him, and slapped it on the table. Surprisingly, it was enough for all three burgers and drinks.

As the three exited the diner, Thalia turned to face Percy.

"Any ideas as to where to go?" She asked. Percy nodded.

"Yeah, Montauk," He said, "It's the closest beach near here." He said.

Thalia nodded.

"You know the way?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll take us there." He said.

"Who said you were driving?" Thalia asked.

"Hey I know the way."

"My car, Percy." Thalia said firmly. Percy shrugged and nodded.

"Alright, but I call shot gun." He said.

Nico opened his mouth to protest against it.

"I know the way, Nico." Percy said. Nico closed his mouth, knowing that Percy had a point.

The three of them got inside the car and Thalia began to drive off. With everyone deep in thought, well, just Thalia, the car was silent. The only noise made was the shifting in the seats, and Percy pointing out which turns for her to take.

"And make a right at the stop sign after this," He said, "After that, you just keep going straight until you see a sign that says Montauk." Thalia nodded and soon enough the car fell into silence once more.

With the soft purr of the engine and the gentle bumps from the asphalt, well, it was enough to make the three of them sleepy.

Despite the fact that it was still midday out, Thalia had trouble keeping her eyes open, she suspected that Nico had fallen asleep, seeing as he hadn't said anything for the last little while—a fact in which she is thankful for.

Thalia glanced over to Percy.

And by the looks of things, Nico isn't the only one who had fallen asleep during the car ride.

"Thanks for falling asleep on me," Thalia muttered sarcastically. With Nico and Percy both asleep—as well as the fact that she didn't go to bed until a little while before two in the morning—she's having a tough time trying to stay awake. It was just so _tempting_ to just close her eyes and let sleep take over.

Thalia yawned tiredly, and her tired eyes began watering. She blinked them back and did her best to stay focused and alert.

I should've gotten some caffeine back there…She thought ruefully.

Thalia sighed, but soon turned into a yawn, and her eyes began tearing up once more. She blinked them back once more, and kept her eyes focused on the road.

She saw the second stop sign that Percy told her about, and she slowed down, until she was at a complete stop. Thalia yawned once more and closed her eyes momentarily.

It wouldn't hurt would it…? She thought.

_Thalia, don't fall asleep._ A voice suddenly ordered, it sounded like a man's voice. One that was very familiar to her…Apollo…?

Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she found her head resting on the steering wheel, and Thalia noticed that her car was moving forward. Confused as to what was going on, she shifted in her seat. Then all of a sudden, her car slightly lurched forward. Thalia jumped, and immediately removed her foot from the gas pedal, preventing the car from going any further, all of which had slapped her wide awake.

Thalia shook her head and put the car in reverse, before making a proper right turn. She quickly glanced over to Nico and Percy, just to make sure that she hadn't accidentally woken them up, and—much to her delight—they were still asleep.

After her near crash, Thalia didn't really focus much on the road—which was a bad idea, considering what almost happened. The only focus that she had actually gave was that she kept her eyes ahead of her, but that was pretty much it, instead, she was pondering as to what happened, and if she really did hear Apollo's voice in her head, telling her not to fall asleep.

Was it really you? She thought as her brows furrowed in thought. If it was you, then thank you.

If she fell asleep, she would've crashed, and only the gods know how many more problems would occur if she really did crash. She suddenly felt bored, and her eye twitched at the random turn of events.

As she was driving, Thalia slowed down, and pulled out an iPod classic from her pocket, wanting to keep herself occupied as she drove, but didn't want to turn on the radio, knowing that it would end up waking up the guys.

Besides, she thought, they're gonna need all the rest they could get.

On quests, demi-gods rarely got any opportunity to rest, and if they do, it's usually very short lived.

She put the ear buds in her ear. She turned it up slightly, and brought her eyes to the road once more, all the while turning up the volume, and made sure that she hadn't taken off her necklace. After making sure that she's still wearing it, Thalia then sped up, wanting to get to Montauk as soon as she could, mostly so that she could get the temptation of falling asleep while driving out of the way.

**October, 11, 2011, On Olympus,**

Apollo let out a relieved breath as he saw Thalia lift her head up from the steering wheel. Truth be told, he doesn't know if telling someone to wake up while they're on a quest is against the Ancient Laws. If it wasn't, then he worried over it for nothing, but if it was…then he risked his immortality and godhood. Apollo shuddered at the thought. He already knew what it was like to live as a regular immortal, many of the Olympians already knew how, however, none of them know how to live as a mortal, except for Dionysus of course, he was a half-blood before he was made a god by Zeus.

Suddenly, he heard Thalia's thoughts.

_If it was you, then thank you_…

He smiled, knowing it was him she was thanking. Apollo didn't say anything, but just continued smiling, unconsciously making the sun shine just a tad bit brighter.

He caught sight of what she really looked like, and she was even prettier than the last time he saw her, two years ago. He always thought that she looked amazing, but now, he was at a loss for words for a while. She seemed a little tired, but that was because that she stayed up a little before 2 a.m. that morning, and almost fell asleep while driving.

He also noted another change about her: her eyes. They interchange between two different shades of blue. When out of bright lights, they were the same electric blue eyes that he had fallen for two years ago, but when she is exposed to bright lights, her pupils became smaller and electric blue changes to sky blue, like in the horizon.

"You seem happy." A familiar voice said, breaking through his thoughts.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Aphrodite smiling that secretive smile of hers. A red flag immediately popped into his head, and he knew that Aphrodite is up to something.

No matter, he thought, I'll find out eventually.

As the god of prophecy and oracles, he knows the future about anything and everything.

Apollo didn't answer her; instead, he just continued looking at his iPod screen that allowed him to see Thalia without anyone scolding him about it later on. He heard Aphrodite's heels click on the floor and he soon felt her looking over his shoulder, trying to see what he was looking at that was on his iPod. There was no use in hiding it. She always finds out who has feelings for whom.

"Ahh…stalking Thalia, I see." She said with a grin.

"…I'm not stalking her…" He defended. Aphrodite's smile only widened.

"Sure you're not…" She said disbelievingly.

"What do you want, Aphrodite?" He asked, changing the subject. Aphrodite never visits anyone unless it's about some sort of gossip.

"Oh nothing," She said innocently.

"You usually never see anyone," He pointed out. Aphrodite ignored him as she saw what was on his iPod's screen.

"She became quite a beauty, hasn't she?" She began. The sun god can practically hear the smirk that played on Aphrodite's lips. Apollo stayed silent, but he had to agree with what she said.

"Y'know, I bet a lot of men want her. Now that I think about it, she probably has her eye on someone." Aphrodite began. The thought already crossed Apollo's mind countless times, and just by thinking about it… Apollo glared at Aphrodite out of the corner of his eyes.

Aphrodite saw the glare and she laughed.

"I just had to do that!" Aphrodite smirked once more and stepped away from Apollo.

The sun god remained silent. Aphrodite looked at him skeptically.

"Anyways, I came here to remind you not to do anything rash; you know the consequences if you do…even if it _is_ for love." Aphrodite said as she turned around and began walking—more like _strutting_—away from him.

Apollo let out a breath and turned his attention back to his iPod. Thalia was still driving down the road.

Aphrodite's right, he can barely do anything to help her on this quest without getting in trouble later on. Apollo really wanted to make sure that she'll complete the quest successfully without any life threatening injuries whatsoever, that way; he'll have more time with her.

He wanted to convince her to at least give them another chance. It may sound selfish, but he wanted her more than anything, and if she doesn't, then he'll have to at least tell her that he still loves her. He hadn't realized that he had fallen in love with Thalia until a few days after Apollo found out that she had been booted out of the hunt. It was a cliché thing to say, but he never realized it until it was too late, and Apollo didn't want to make the same mistake again. He wanted to make sure that she knows at least this before anything happens, or else he will feel regret for not telling her this for a long, _long_ time, maybe until the very day he fades…

Apollo shuddered at the thought.

Yeah, he thought to himself, I'm definitely gonna tell her as soon as I get a chance.

He paused for a moment and sighed.

"Easier said than done," He muttered to himself.

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**I tried to make this chapter longer than the previous one, so lemme know what you guys think of it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! I'm sorry about the long wait for this chapter!**

**I guess you could say that I lost interest for a bit, but I made myself to get back to it and at least finish this chapter. And seeing as it's currently March break, I'll be able to have some more time for me to work on this story. And this time, I'll try my best to update as fast as I can.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy the long awaited chapter 8! Speaking of which...I don't know if it's a filler chapter, but I REALLY hope you guys would like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series or characters.**

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**October, 11, 2011, with Thalia**

Thalia can't remember the last time she has ever gone to a beach. Or if she even _went_ to one in the first place. If she had, then it would've been a long time ago, a time in which her mother was not an alcoholic, a time in which her mother showed her love and compassion. If she ever did go to the beach with her mother, it was probably the only family vacation that she ever went on, and, unfortunately, Thalia couldn't even remember what happened.

Thalia broke out of her nostalgia as she drove past a large sign that said _'Montauk'_, and saw a beach a little ways a head. She glanced over to Percy who was still asleep, and then glanced in the rearview mirror, and saw that Nico was still asleep as well. She sighed and sped up even more, not wanting to deal with a sleeping Percy and Nico any longer.

A few minutes passed before she pulled up on the vacant beach. Thalia turned off the engine and put away her iPod before shaking Percy awake.

"Percy, wake up, we're here." Percy groaned tiredly, and his sea green eyes flickered open. He sat up and stretched, before blinking tiredly as he took a look at his surroundings.

"We're here?" He asked. Thalia nodded.

"Yeah," She answered, "You wanna wake up ghost boy over there?" She asked, while jerking her thumb into Nico's general direction. Percy looked at her.

"Alright, fine. I'll do it," Thalia exasperated, she turned around in her seat and, unfortunately, Nico was too far from her, so she can't shake him awake, so she'll have to go with the next best option.

"Nico, wake up ghost boy, we're here." She said somewhat loudly. Nico groaned tiredly and his black eyes fluttered open.

"We are?" He asked as he stretched his arms.

"If we weren't, you and Percy would still be asleep," Thalia replied, "Now you two out. I need to park my car somewhere, and hide it." She said. Thalia didn't know how long they might stay in Poseidon's domain, so she's gonna have to hide it somewhere so that none of the mortals will report it, and then her car will end up being towed somewhere.

Percy and Nico followed Thalia's order, and Thalia herself, scanned the area for a little bit before spotting a huge cluster of bushes and branches just a little ways away from the actual cabins. She grinned and began to drive in the direction of the bushes.

Thalia had to be careful as she was parking in the huge shrub of bushes. When she was satisfied with the parking, she turned off the engine and got out. Thalia pressed a button on her car keys, thus locking the door and setting the alarm—not knowing why, seeing as she won't be able to hear it.

She nodded, satisfied that the leaves, branches and the bushes themselves has hidden her car well, but there was some parts of it that she can see clearly. Thalia pursed her lips together and quickly scanned the area. Her bright blue eyes then landed on a small pile of broken branches.

Perfect.

Thalia grinned and picked them up, and gently placed it on her car.

She took a look at her work, and decided that it covered it well, and that no one would really notice a car parked in a huge pile of bushes and shrubs. Thalia locked her door again, making sure that she actually did, before turning around and heading back over to Nico and Percy, both of whom were waiting patiently for her arrival.

"Ready?" She asked as she finally stood in front of them.

"As I'll ever be," Percy muttered, while Nico didn't say anything. Percy then began walking to the tides, and beckoned for the other two to follow. Thalia and Nico did what he wanted, and Nico stood beside him on his left, while Thalia was on his right.

"I'm gonna be transporting all of us there at the same time, so you two have to hold on," Percy began, "If you don't, then you might end up floating somewhere in the middle of the ocean." He warned. Thalia faintly heard Nico gulp, while she herself furrowed her brow in worry as she stared at Percy.

Thalia sighed and linked her arm with Percy.

"Nico?" The youngest demi-god relented and took a—reluctant—firm hold onto Percy's hand. Thalia grinned as she saw the uncomfortable look on both their faces.

"This stays between the three of us." Nico said flatly.

"Agreed," Percy said. Thalia still had that grin on her face.

"I'm gonna let go of you," Percy said. Thalia laughed at the teen's tone.

"Alright, alright, fine." Thalia said, "But that doesn't mean that I can't tease you two about it for a while." She continued. Neither one of them said anything else after that.

Thalia heard Percy inhale a deep breath, and figured it was because they needed to see Amphitrite.

When Percy took a step forward, Thalia immediately did the same, and Nico did so a couple seconds after Thalia and Percy. When their feet were thoroughly submerged underwater, Thalia was amazed. Her feet were underwater, and yet, they're not wet. It was such an unusual thing to experience.

She suddenly blinked and Thalia was suddenly brought out of her thoughts, as Percy asked both her and Nico if they're ready.

"Yeah," Thalia said as she looked at Percy. The son of Poseidon looked over to Nico who nodded, confirming his answer.

"Get ready," Percy said, "And don't let go." He warned once more, seriousness entering his tone. Thalia refrained from making a comment, knowing that if she did say anything, there'll be another argument, and she figured that the three of them really don't need to be on bad terms with eachother while visiting Poseidon's immortal wife.

Just seconds after Percy had spoken, the three of them suddenly lurched forward, and soon enough, they were travelling at an unnatural speed underwater. Thalia saw the world underwater, and was completely entranced by how _different_ it is. Sure, she's seen photos of it, but she had never actually seen it—seeing as she's a daughter of Zeus, and knowing her father's rivalry with Poseidon, there is a very high chance of her getting killed—Thalia was so marveled by the sight of it, that she had almost forgotten to hold onto Percy, otherwise, she really will be killed in Poseidon's domain.

Thalia mentally shuddered, and subconsciously held onto Percy's arm tighter than before. She heard Percy chuckle quietly, and Thalia scowled, practically feeling the smirk that was on Percy's face.

After a few more minutes of silent, under water travelling, they finally saw the shimmering lights of Atlantis. Thalia felt as though she was suddenly thrown in front of a brick wall. For a few moments, she felt confused, but realized that the three of them were now standing before the gates of Atlantis. Percy formed an air bubble that clung onto Nico and Thalia like second skin, thus enabling the two demi-gods to breathe underwater; all the while, releasing his hold on the two.

The three children of the Big Three stared at the glowing city in utter amazement, momentarily forgetting why they were even here in the first place. The buildings were made out of marble and were accented with various shades of golds, greens and blues. There were exotic fish of all sorts, some of them Thalia recognized, while others she didn't even know existed until today. There were small shops that were selling some goods that looked to be made out of moss covered wood. And there were merpeople everywhere, there was not a place—to what looked like a market—in which there wasn't at least three merpeople waiting to buy something or entering/exiting a building, or just hanging out in general.

Thalia would have just stood there for a good while longer if it weren't for the fact that a merman that looked like he was her age, accidentally crashed into her, that made her crash into Percy who then crashed into Nico.

"Watch it!" Thalia exclaimed. The merman froze, and turned around curiously and saw Thalia glaring at him.

"Sorry!" He said sheepishly.

"S'alright," Thalia mumbled back, as she got up. The green merman glanced up and let out a gasp.

"Sorry, I would help you out, but I've gotta run!" He started to grin, "My sister is getting married." He explained before swimming off, before anyone of the three demi-gods could say anything.

"That was rude," Thalia muttered.

"You're telling me," Nico agreed.

"We should get going," Percy said.

"Well _someone's_ excited to see their father's immortal wife," Nico commented. Percy glared at the younger demi-god.

"The sooner we finish this, the better," He reasoned. Nico shrugged and the three of them took a step forward, and soon enough they were all passing through the market.

There were many stands that were selling items like rare shells, or something like that, Thalia wasn't really paying attention.

"Hello there, good sir!" One of the stand owners called. Percy, Nico and Thalia paused for a moment, and realized with was Percy he was talking to.

"How's about a pretty trinket for your lady over there?" He called. Thalia's right eye began twitching.

"She's my cousin!" Percy called back. The stand owner blinked in surprise, before he blushed profusely. He quickly apologized to Percy, and soon enough, the three began walking through the market once more.

"Cousin?" Thalia questioned with a raised eye brown.

"Hey, you technically are." Percy said. Thalia sighed.

"Great, I'm related to a Seaweed Brain," She said. Nico chuckled at what she said, while Percy just gave her a playful glare.

"And a ghost boy," Nico soon gave Thalia the same look that Percy had given her.

"It's nice to know that your sense of sarcasm never changed," Nico commented.

"It'll probably never change," Thalia replied with a small grin.

"I just realized something…" Percy said out of the blue. Thalia and Nico looked at him curiously.

"And…?" Thalia prompted.

"You used to never talk this much," He said. Thalia blinked, and thought about it for a moment.

"…For once, Percy, you're right," She replied.

They walked a bit more, before they made it to the hearth of the city. And Thalia had to admit, it reminded her of downtown Toronto during the late evening. Some shops were just starting to open up, while others were closing up for the day, there were some merpeople entering to what Thalia guessed to be a restaurant, and some fish were bustling about, looking as though, they want to get home as soon as they can, especially after a very long day.

"Is that it?" Nico asked suddenly.

Thalia tore her gaze away from all the shops and looked ahead—she faintly wondered when they stopped walking, but lost her train of thought when she saw what was in front of her. She saw gates that guarded a tall palace, with many towers and windows, all of which were decorated with magnificent sea shells of many kinds. It was mostly sea green, but the building itself was accented by golds and blues. But what really threw Thalia off was the fact that it was _glowing_. The entire underwater palace is surrounded by a faint golden glow.

Thalia couldn't help but stare at its magnificent beauty, and she had a feeling that the other two was staring at it as well. It was just…_beautiful_, for lack of a better word.

"Who are you?" A new voice asked. Thalia was immediately jostled out of her thoughts, and brought her gaze down to gates before her, but now had a guard standing in front of them.

His tail twitched out of annoyance as he glared at the three demi-gods.

"Well?" He asked impatiently, "_Who are you_?" He demanded.

"My name's Percy," The guard looked at him in surprise.

"Perseus Jackson?" He said in surprise, "Please, forgive me, Lord. I have not yet seen you myself." The guard said formally.

"It's alright….?" Percy said, sounding unsure as to what to say.

"I'll take you and your companions to the palace right now," He said.

"Thanks…" Percy said.

Thalia blinked at the guard who beckoned them to follow him. As they were walking, Thalia took in the surroundings. The path that they were currently walking is decorated with glowing and ever changing pearls that reminded her of Christmas lights. There were merpeople in the courtyards, some of which were tending to the sea plants, others seemed to be socializing. She saw some octopi dart right past by her, and some fish swirling around the group every now and then.

Thalia drank every single detail in, and was amazed by how beautiful the palace is.

The four finally reached the palace's entrance, and the guard brought them inside and waved two fishes over.

"Will you alert Lord Poseidon of our guests?" He asked one of them. The fish did what Thalia assumed as a nod and he swam away. The guard turned around to face them.

"I must get back to my duties. Sebastian will show you to the throne room," He said as he pointed to the second fish.

"Thank you," Thalia said before she could stop herself. The guard smiled and nodded before quickly exiting the palace.

She glanced over to Nico and Percy and blinked. There stood Percy staring at the fish for gods know how long, before Percy all of a sudden nodded, and turned to meet Thalia's gaze.

"He said that my dad, and Amphitrite," Thalia noticed the grimace on his face as he said the last name, "will be meeting with us soon." Percy explained. The fish turned around and Percy nodded, and followed the fish.

Thalia and Nico stood there for a moment.

"Is it wrong for me to think that it's really weird to be following a fish?" Nico asked her.

"No, at least, I don't think so," She replied, "But either way, said fish knows where we're going," Nico nodded.

"Fair enough," And with that, they jogged over to where Percy was, and slowed down to walk on beside him, so that he was in the middle.

Thalia noticed how quiet it suddenly became, and how Percy kept his head down for most of the way to the throne room. She quickly leaned over to him and whispered "You alright, Perce?"

Percy looked visibly startled when Thalia began whispering. He glanced over at her for a bit.

"Yeah, I'm good," He finally said. Thalia gave him a disbelieving look when he said that.

"Ok, so I'm a little nervous," He admitted.

Thalia knew exactly how he felt, after they somehow get whatever item needed from Amphitrite, then they'll be visiting Hera next, and that's definitely something that she's not looking forward too. It was a very well known fact that Hera practically hated every demi-god child of Zeus, Thalia included, _especially_ Thalia.

The black haired demi-goddess looked at Percy, concern gleaming in her electric blue eyes.

"You'll probably have your dad to back you up," Thalia said, trying to reassure him.

"Probably will, he did, after all, claim that you're his favourite son," Nico cut in. Thalia wasn't even surprised that Nico had listened in on what she said.

"Gives you all the more reason for you not to be so worried," Thalia said. Percy let out a weak smile.

"Yeah, but—"

"No 'buts,' Percy. You're gonna do fine," Thalia reassured. Percy and Nico glanced at her.

"Wow, being in Canada for the last two years changed you, Thals." Nico commented. Thalia narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"And why's that, Nico?" Thalia asked.

"Well, Canadians are supposed to be nice," Nico stated bluntly.

Percy froze mid-step, and a dead silence enveloped them. Even Sebastian, the fish, nervously turned around to see how this is going to end.

Thalia's right eye twitched out of annoyance, and then glared at Nico.

"What? Just because I was born in Canada means that I have to act like the stereotypical Canadian?" Thalia snapped.

"I didn't—" Thalia cut him off.

"Sure you didn't, Nico." Thalia finished off sarcastically.

"I meant it to be a compliment!" Nico blurted.

"Guys, how about we just keep going?" Percy suggested. Thalia and Nico glared at each other, but eventually the two of them relented.

When they finally made it to the throne room, the three demi-gods saw two merpeople sitting on two thrones. One of them Thalia recognized as the sea god, Poseidon, and the other, a pretty mermaid. Thalia assumed that the mermaid is Poseidon's immortal wife, Amphitrite.

Thalia was quickly brought out of her reverie when she saw her friends bow down to them out of respect. As gracefully and respectfully as she could, Thalia quickly bowed to them, hoping that she won't be called out for that.

"Leave us, Sebastian." Poseidon's powerful voce echoed throughout the room. Thalia could feel the water surrounding her shift as the colorful fish quickly swam right passed her; and Thalia could tell it was because Sebastian is very nervous. Nervous about being in the presence of the all powerful sea god? Most likely that.

"You may rise," Thalia was quickly brought out of her thoughts, and did as what Poseidon told them to. She stood up straight, and glanced over to Percy, just to see how he's holding up, now that he actually _is_ in the presence of his father, and his father's wife.

Poseidon smiled at the three, but Thalia had a feeling it was more directed at Percy rather than her and Nico. Personally, Thalia is a tad miffed, but she isn't all that surprised that he did so; with the rivalry between Poseidon, Zeus and Hades, it really isn't that surprising to be honest.

"Welcome Percy," Poseidon greeted, warmth shining in his eyes, "Thalia, Nico." He greeted once more, but not as warm as his greeting for Percy.

"It's highly unusual for all three children of the Big Three to go on the same quest," He commented, "But tell me, what brings the three of you to my domain?" He asked.

Thalia was confused for a moment. She thought all the gods and goddesses knew about this quest, but her confusion was pushed to the back of her mind when she saw Percy shift uncomfortably.

Thalia subtly nudged him. His eyes shot towards her, and he looked at her for some help. Thalia knew how nervous he was and so she nodded, knowing that he really is gonna need some help for this thing.

"Please, my Lord, Lady, let me explain," Thalia began, in a respectful and yet confident tone, "Percy, Nico and I have been given a quest from Hecate. It concerns the other Titan's prisons," Thalia said.

Poseidon's expression changed from warm and greeting to serious and expressionless. He nodded for her to continue.

"Hecate would have sent one of her own children to go on this quest, but there are three items that belong in each of the domains of the Big Three. And we," Thalia indicated herself, Percy and Nico, "Are the only ones who are able to enter your domains without getting killed in the process. Without this item, we won't be able to find Hecate's amulet; the same amulet that she had created in order for the other titans to stay in their prisons."

All of a sudden, Thalia is thankful that she decided to go to university, more specifically, taking the classics course that Emma insisted that Thalia take. There's a lot of essay writing, and her professor is very picky about the kind of vocabulary that Thalia uses.

"I see," Poseidon said. Thalia didn't say anything, but this time nudged Percy for him to speak.

He has to at one point, she reasoned with herself. Percy glanced at her, not very happy about what she did, but relented.

"We came here to see Lady Amphitrite, because she is the one who has the first item," Percy said. Thalia is surprised to hear how steady his voice was, but at a closer inspection, she could see how nervous the poor guy is.

"Is it the box you speak of?" Amphitrite spoke for the first time. Thalia noted how cold she sounds when she spoke to Percy; she subconsciously gulped, knowing that Hera will do the same with her.

"I believe so, milady," Percy answered. Amphitrite's eyes became even colder—if that was even possible—before turning her attention to Poseidon.

"If you will, my Lord, I would like to have a word with him," She said, "Alone," Poseidon looked at her in surprise, before his expression quickly changed to one of understanding.

"Very well," He nodded, "Nico, Thalia, come with me please," Poseidon stood up from his throne, and shriveled down to a size of a regular human.

Thalia glanced at Percy, worried about how he's gonna take this. She remembered Annabeth telling her about how similar she and Percy are, and knowing Annabeth, she's usually right about just about anything. If Percy is panicking, then there's a good chance that she'll do the same; if she makes sure that he's alright, then there's a high chance that he'll do the same.

She also remembered some stories from some of the other demi-gods that she met that whenever the group is split up, it usually meant two things: a tragedy will happen or a miracle will happen. Thalia was hoping for the latter, but knowing the luck of a demi-god, she didn't know whether or not it will actually happen.

What she saw surprised her. He wasn't panicking, in fact he looked like he didn't lose any colour to his face, but however, Thalia could tell that he's only covering up his nervousness.

Good luck, Perce. She thought.

Thalia turned around and followed Nico and Poseidon out of the throne room, praying that Percy will be alright.

When she stepped foot outside of the throne room, the doors slammed shut, temporarily blocking out any sort of sign that the third member of the group will be alright.

"Thalia?" The black haired demi-goddess glanced over to Nico, who looked worried.

Thalia knew that he was worried about Percy, she was too. She remembered all those bonding moments that she, Percy and Nico had after the Second Titan War had ended. The three of them had grown even closer, and Thalia could remember a conversation between the three of them, each claiming that they thought of each other as siblings.

Thalia just gave the younger demi-god a small smile, hoping to reassure him about the situation, all the while, trying to reassure herself.

* * *

**How'd ya guys like it? Like it? Hate it? Should I continue on with it?**

**GAAAAHHHH! SO MANY QUESTIONS!**

**Ah well :P Just review please! Oh and no flames, can't stand 'em for some reason :P**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ummm...hi...**

**I'm really sorry about the long...really long, wait for this chapter, but I hope that this chapter's worth it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, he (along with everything else) belong to Rick Riordan**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**October 11, 2011, With Thalia**

Thalia sighed and began walking with Nico and Poseidon. Truth be told, it was very awkward walking with your godly uncle that can very well kill you with a snap of his fingers if either you or your "cousin" gave him an excuse to kill you. And knowing his rivalry with your father and your "cousin's" father, which can be as small as "I don't know."

There was an awkward silence as Poseidon led them to a different part of the castle. Thalia can't really disagree with said awkward silence, for reasons that have already been mentioned.

They soon reached a courtyard that had a table set up. Poseidon swam towards the table, and took a seat on one of the chairs.

"Please, take a seat," Poseidon said, pointing to the two empty seats in front of him. Thalia looked at him in surprise, and slowly took a seat in front of him, Nico following her example.

"Would you like something to eat?" He asked, while looking at Thalia.

"No, thank you, Lord," Thalia answered.

"Please, don't call me that," Poseidon said, "Call me Uncle," Thalia immediately decided that out of the Big Three, Poseidon is the most relaxed out of the three of them. Thalia smiled politely and nodded. Poseidon smiled back, before looking at Nico.

"Nico?" The younger demi-god politely shook his head. Poseidon shrugged and nodded.

"Suit yourselves," He said before a delicious seafood delicacy appeared in front of him.

Thalia found it really strange that the god of sea has not yet done anything to her or Nico. No sneering, no comments that tick her off, no threats, no nothing. Thalia's very thankful that this hasn't happened, and yet, she found it very strange sitting in the garden with Percy's godly father, in _his_ domain, and wondered how he could have not killed them yet, or at the very least attempt to do so.

Her thoughts suddenly drifted to Percy. Is he alright? Did he manage to get Amphitrite's box—which Thalia assumed is the item that they needed—? Did he somehow manage to get himself killed? Then again, if he did get killed, someone would've sent message saying "Percy Jackson is dead."

Thalia let out a silent breath, not seeing the analyzing looks on both Nico and Poseidon. Poseidon's gaze was more out of curiosity, wondering how the children of his brothers are like; while Nico's was out of worry, as if he knew what Thalia is thinking about.

"Good afternoon, Father," A new voice said, bringing Thalia out of her thoughts. She looked over to her left and saw a young man who looks like Percy, but around her age rather than eighteen, and he didn't have the grey streak that Percy has. Thalia assumed that this person was Triton, Poseidon's other son. How Thalia knew who this guy was? She didn't know the answer herself.

"Hello Triton," Poseidon said curtly, "What brings you here?" He asked. Thalia could tell that Poseidon didn't really like Triton that much…then again, Thalia knew from experience that being immortal as well as living with other immortals can really start ticking off a person.

"I just heard that your other son is in the castle, and brought along two other demi-gods with him, and I wanted to see if this is true?" He asked; he sounded genuinely curious about this.

Poseidon nodded, "Yes, it's true; in fact; you're standing right in front of the demi-gods that Percy had brought with him." Triton blinked, and finally turned his attention to Thalia and Nico.

"Why, hel_lo_ there,"

Correction, he finally turned his attention to Thalia.

"Please excuse me for not noticing you earlier. I'm Triton by the way, and you are?" He asked flirtatiously.

Thalia suddenly felt really uncomfortable by the way Triton was looking at her. If she were still a Hunter, there was a high chance that she would've punched the lights out of any guy that said this to her, and won't get into any trouble since Artemis would have her back. Artemis has all of her Hunters' backs, so long as they keep their vows of course.

"Her name's Thalia and I'm Nico." Nico interrupted. Thalia shot the younger demi-god a thankful look. Triton, however, didn't really look that impressed.

"I wasn't asking you, for her name," He said coolly.

Thalia took a deep breath, but didn't say anything. Gods help me, she thought desperately. The last thing she wanted on this quest is for Nico to get either killed or hurt by the immortal son of Poseidon.

Thalia blinked when the thought crossed her mind.

Me not wanting Nico to get hurt by Triton? She thought. That's a first. Normally, she would be asking someone to shut the younger demi-god up.

Then again, there's always a first.

"Now, Thalia, was it?" Triton asked. Thalia looked at him suspiciously before nodding.

"Yeah," She said, further confirming Triton's answer. Triton smiled and took Thalia's hand, and kissed it, like a perfect gentleman.

"Pleasure," He replied.

And I'm really a mortal being with special benefits, Thalia thought sarcastically as she pulled her hand away from the immortal son of Poseidon.

"Likewise," Thalia replied curtly, hiding her annoyance from Triton.

"Please, allow me to show you around the castle," He said.

"That won't be necessary," Thalia replied.

"Oh, but I insist," Triton said, the look on his face, clearly saying that he won't take "no" for an answer.

Thalia glanced over to Nico, giving him a "help me or die," look. Nico shrugged, and gave her a look that said "Don't look at me, I don't wanna be killed".

"Your friend will be just fine with my father," Triton said, not really meaning what he said.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine with, uhh, Uncle…?" Nico piped up, causing Poseidon to smile, and for Triton to scowl at the casual title that he had used. Thalia gave him an "I'm _so_ gonna kill you for this," look before sighing and reluctantly agreeing with Triton.

She really does have to stop doing this. Giving into others' needs, that is.

"Excellent choice, Thalia," Triton said happily. Thalia got up and stood in front of Triton, while the said immortal offered his arm, and not wanting to tick him, or anyone off for that matter, she took it.

The two took one step, and both had disappeared to a different part of the castle, leaving Nico alone with his all powerful, godly uncle.

"Sooo," Nico began awkwardly, "How're things going on here?" He asked.

"Very well, thank you. The construction is half completed, but I believe that we'll be able to finish within the next two years," Poseidon replied, "How are things going on in your father's domain?" He asked. Nico shrugged.

"The last time I was there, it was pretty busy," Nico replied.

"When was the last time you visited?" Poseidon questioned.

"About a week ago," Poseidon curiously raised a brow, "Long story short, I have been banned from visiting the underworld for three weeks after asking Persephone what's wrong," Nico answered.

"And I thought she was moody enough when she's on earth," Poseidon muttered.

"Oh you have no idea," Nico replied.

Nico never really thought he'd see the day when he'd find himself having an awkward conversation with an uncle that would very well kill him if he said the wrong thing.

The two sat there in awkward silence, neither of which knew what to say to the other.

Hope Percy's having more fun than me, Nico thought.

**With Percy**

Percy didn't know why he even bothered trying to convince Amphitrite to give him her box.

All the two had been doing so far is just staring at each other, and with each minute passing, Percy felt more and more nervous than before.

Mainly because of the fact that there's still a high chance that she would blow him to bits if he does anything that she doesn't like, not only making this quest a failure, but killing him in the process.

Hope Nico and Thalia are having more fun than me, Percy thought bitterly. He _really_ didn't want to be here right now, but then again, who would?

**With Nico**

So far, there's still a very awkward silence between Nico and Poseidon. Nico didn't know what to do or what to say, while Poseidon doesn't know what to think of his brother's son.

"How are Hades and Persephone?" Poseidon awkwardly asked, not knowing what else to say.

"They're the same since the last time you saw them," Nico replied.

"Brooding, moody, and the occasional case of bipolar attitudes?" Poseidon questioned with a smirk.

"Pretty much," Nico replied.

"Think they're ever going to change?" Poseidon asked.

"Nope," Nico replied, popping the "p" while he was at it.

"All the other gods will have to agree with you," Poseidon said.

"I think it's something that everyone, both mortal and immortal would agree on," Nico said.

"I'll have to agree with you, nephew," Poseidon said.

He may dislike his brother, but his son? He's starting to like this young demi-god, for a son of Hades of course.

"If you don't mind me asking," Nico said, bringing Poseidon out of his thoughts, "But where do you think Thalia and Triton have gone?"

"In all honesty, Triton may have taken her to Miami beach," Poseidon answered. The black haired demi-god's mouth practically dropped to the ocean floor at Poseidon's answer.

The sea god had to hold back a chuckle at the sight of Nico's face.

"But I thought that he'll be taking her on a tour of the palace!" Nico exclaimed.

"The place where you, Thalia and Percy have come to is only but the throne room. The entire palace ranges from the Strategy room in Halifax, Canada all the way down to the sleeping chambers in Miami," Poseidon replied.

"That's the size of your _palace_? How big is the strategy room anyway?" Nico asked curiously.

"About five times larger than P.E.I.," Poseidon said. Nico stared at him blankly.

"What's a P.E.I.?" He asked.

"Not what, where," Poseidon corrected, "It stands for Prince Edward Island, a small province in Canada,"

"Oh," Nico said, and all was silent for a moment, before he realized something, "Wait a minute...you said Triton may be taking Thalia to Miami, right?" Here Poseidon nodded, "And you said that's where the sleeping chambers are, right?" Nico asked, on the verge of panicking.

"Yes, I do believe so," Poseidon confirmed.

"Uncle, I don't mean to degrade your son, but I think he might do something to her, and I want to make sure that she won't harm anyone," Nico said. Poseidon sighed, and refrained himself from rubbing the bridge of his nose—a habit that he picked up from Sally Jackson.

By my throne, this boy is _slow_, Poseidon thought exasperatedly.

"Why do you think I mentioned the sleeping chambers, earlier Nico?" Poseidon asked.

There was an awkward silence and Nico had no idea what his uncle meant, before suddenly, the black eyed boy slowly. Once. Twice. Three times. Before realizing why Poseidon had mentioned this earlier. Nico blinked once more, and he suddenly felt very stupid for not picking up on this earlier on in the conversation.

"Oh,"

Poseidon couldn't help but sigh once more. He can picture himself getting along quite well with this particular son of Hades, but if there were to be one thing that Poseidon really wished that Nico would work on, it's to get rid of that slowness of his.

**With Thalia**

As soon as Nico and Poseidon went out of sight, Thalia suddenly regretted accepting Triton's invitation for a tour of the palace.

They continued walking along the courtyard, all of the fish-servants giving her strange looks. Some of them are looking at her with pity, some are curious, some are angry, and Thalia began to get confused as to why they're doing that.

"Is everything alright, Thalia?" Triton asked—who was still holding her arm, for reasons that were unknown to Thalia. The black haired demi-goddess turned to face him and nodded.

"Yeah," She answered, refraining herself from giving a sarcastic answer. Triton gave her a charming smile at her answer.

"Thank goodness," He said, "Well, here we are, Miami Beach," Thalia blinked at the mention of the name.

"M-Miami!" She exclaimed. Thalia turned her wide eyes over to Triton who was refraining from laughing at her.

"Didn't Percy tell you?" He asked—although, Thalia detected a hint of bitterness when Triton mentioned Percy's name.

"Umm…no," Thalia said. What was Percy supposed to tell her?

"The entire palace ranges from Miami Beach all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia," Triton explained. Thalia stared at the immortal son of Poseidon when he told here this.

"You're kidding," She said, breathlessly. In all honesty, she never found out about this.

"I'm not," Triton said with a charming smile.

"There's no way that the entire palace is that huge," Thalia said.

"Are you sure you should be saying that?" Triton countered. The young woman blinked at what she said.

"Never mind, I take that back," supposed Thalia. This time, Triton laughed at her. It was a booming laugh, and it had an air of aristocracy that suited him very well. Thalia turned away from the god and looked around Miami Beach. There weren't that many people out, considering that it's in the middle of the day, and since it's not the tourist season, along with the fact that school is currently going on. It was quite nice to see what the whole place is like when it's not bustling with so much life, but at the same time, it was quite strange to see Miami Beach of all places like this.

The sun was just setting over the horizon, and Thalia felt an ache in her chest. An ache that she knew all too well…She blinked, and focused her thoughts elsewhere.

"How long were we down there?" Thalia asked Triton. The immortal shrugged.

"Six, seven hours, give or take," He shrugged, "Time really passes by when you're immortal," He winked. Thalia took a subtle step back—a technique when trying to stay a comfortable distance away from any males, that she had perfected during her time as a Hunter of Artemis—and looked away from Triton.

"How about some ice cream?" He offered. Thalia was about to refuse before her stomach grumbled. The demi-god's eye twitched at the terrible timing of her stomach. Besides, hadn't she eaten a while ago?

Triton began laughing, and brought Thalia out of her thoughts.

"I'm assuming that dinner is for the best," He said. Thalia rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but laugh as well.

"I will have to agree," She said with a smile. Hey, she isn't a hunter anymore, and she's single, and she's twenty three, so what's the harm? Plus, it's free food, who _wouldn't_ want some free food?

"Well then," Triton began, "I know just the place," He said as he offered his arm to Thalia. The dark haired demi-god looked at it for a moment before taking it.

For some unexplainable reason, she felt quite happy that Nico hadn't done anything to stop Triton from giving her a tour of the palace.

**With Nico**

"Ah-_choo_!"

"Bless you," Poseidon said as he pulled out a tissue from somewhere and handed it to Nico.

"Thanks," He said before he blew his nose, "Great, I'm getting sick," He grumbled under his breath.

"Not necessarily," Poseidon began, "In some cultures, if you sneezes, it means that someone is speaking about you," Nico raised an eyebrow as he tucked the tissue in his pocket—making a mental note to toss it out when he gets the chance.

"Really?" Nico asked. He's always been fascinated with myths and superstitions—a trait of being the son of Hades.

**Back with Thalia**

"How many people?" A waiter asked as Triton led himself and Thalia inside a small, very cozy looking restaurant.

"Just two," He said. Thalia glanced around and saw that the place has live music entertainment, and several people were already dancing to a song that Thalia doesn't recognize.

"Right this way, sir," The waiter said. The sandy haired waiter led them to a spot near the stage, where Thalia and Triton have a clear view of the singer.

A comfortable silence fell upon the two, and as Thalia was looking over the menu, she can't help but feel as though she's betraying someone. But how can she? She hasn't been with anyone for several months now, and for all she knew, its _Triton_ who's doing the betraying of a relationship (if he's ever met anyone worthwhile his time, that is).

"Is there anything you would like?" Triton asked her suddenly, bringing Thalia out of her thoughts.

"A cheeseburger would be nice," Triton grinned, and waved the waiter over, "Great choice, Thals," He said as the waiter came over, and just the way Triton said that made Thalia let out a _very_ small chuckle. She pushed the feeling of betraying someone to the back of her mind, and began having a pleasant conversation with Triton.

**Back on Olympus**

Apollo growled angrily as he punched a hole in the wall in his temple, as he watched Thalia laugh as she had dinner with Poseidon's immortal son.

"That arrogant bastard…" He snarled, and let out a string of curses in Ancient Greek.

Why him! He thought in a jealous rage.

If there's one thing he knows about Triton, it's the fact that he's exactly like Poseidon, who is exactly like Zeus, who behaves in manners similar to Apollo himself. To put it in simpler terms, all gods—not including the goddesses, just the gods—act and behave in a similar manner when it comes to mortal women—minus Hephaestus, Hermes and surprisingly, Hades—and Apollo is no exception. Arrogant—though he likes to say that he's _confident_, but Thalia would say otherwise—womanizing, and almost always has a difficult time keeping it in his pants. That was Thalia's very blunt explanation of it on the night he ruined her career as a Hunter of Artemis, and thinking back on it, it's kind of true.

But that wasn't the point. The point _is_ that out of all the mortals in this dang universe, Thalia should know this!

Apollo cursed in Ancient Greek again, and almost crushed his iPod when he saw Triton reach out across the table and wipe away some ketchup sauce that was on the corner of Thalia's mouth.

I should be doing that…He thought in a jealous manner.

He made a brief mental note to make sure that Triton—or anyone else for that matter—never touches Thalia in any sort of way that doesn't show friendship. Ever.

"Apollo," Apollo growled once more, and whirled to face whoever dared to set foot in his temple when he was this mad—it's never a good thing to bother Apollo when he's mad, or make him mad for that matter, take a look what happened to Cassandra! He cursed her when she pissed him off, and now Troy is nothing but a pile of burnt ash and itty bitty rocks—which was ironic considering he was on Troy's side…

"_What_?" He snarled and his temper calmed down—only a small fraction that is—when he became face to face with his sister, Artemis.

"I suggest that you calm down before you melt the polar ice caps," She stated bluntly. Apollo ignored her and went back to watching over Thalia. It's a _very_ well known fact that Apollo has his eyes on Thalia—you can thank Aphrodite and her gossiping ways for that—and Thalia only, and whenever any of the other male gods had even mentioned Thalia's name he would always send them a nasty glare that made them back off—except for Zeus, Zeus is Thalia's dad, so Zeus is an obvious exception.

"_Apollo_!" Artemis barked. She has no idea what to think of when it comes to Apollo's genuine affections for her former lieutenant, she wanted to be grateful for it, because Apollo had _finally_ stopped going after her hunters, but because of it, she lost one of the three best lieutenants she had, Zoe Nightshade being one of them, and Queen Elizabeth I being another.

"Calm down!" She demanded, as she grabbed Apollo's iPod, and did her best to restrain herself from chucking the thing out the window. Apollo didn't say anything, but instead glared at his sister.

"You care for her, I get it, but you have to watch your temper, Apollo," Artemis warned, "The mortals are already thinking that the sun will explode in 2012,"

"Then let them think that," Apollo snarled, as he grabbed his iPod back.

"You're not getting it," Artemis said, "You should know more than anyone else that if a god does something to make the mortals think of something untrue—" Apollo cut her off.

"I know, Artemis," He said, taking in some breaths, trying to calm himself down. He glanced over to his iPod, and did his best to refrain his temper, when he saw Triton smile cheekily. Not at Thalia, Thalia went to the washroom, but at Apollo himself.

"Apollo," His sister's warning tone filled his ears. Apollo didn't say anything, but continued to glare at the immortal son of the sea god.

He wasn't paying attention, so he didn't realize that his sister had covered the screen right away.

"If it'll help you calm down," Artemis began, her sounding very frustrated, "I'll take care of Triton, I hear that he's been eyeing one of my hunters lately," Apollo glanced back to his sister.

"Just remember not to directly interfere," Artemis warned.

"I won't," Apollo promised, knowing that he is, once again, relying on his sister to do something that he isn't allowed to do.

He has to rely on his sister in order to make sure that his children will be alright on quests—her being the goddess of the hunt, allows her to directly help demi-gods on quests, seeing as she's constantly on the earth, and _in her domain_—and in exchange, one of his daughters will become Hunters. And he's relying on her once more, not for his children—at least not yet, due to the fact that most of them are either dead (you can thank Kronos and his army for that) or year rounders at Camp Half-Blood—but for Thalia's sake.

There is no way in Hades will he allow her to get hurt while on a quest as vital as the one she's on. He already promised her that he won't directly interfere with Thalia's quest, but that doesn't mean that he can't interfere _indirectly_. After all, he did that with Thalia's first quest after she had been revived from her tree, and he didn't get into trouble, so who's to say that he can't do it again?

Apollo instinctively glanced back to the screen on his iPod, and saw Thalia and Triton exiting the small restaurant, and his jealous rage suddenly increased a hundred fold.

In his screen, he saw Triton place an arm around Thalia's waist as he guided the two of them through the boardwalk. The moon light being reflected on the (suspiciously) still water made it look as though they were on a romantic date! What made it even worse was that Triton had led them to different stands that were still open, and had attempted to buy her some things.

"That's _it_!" Apollo seethed before took one step, and immediately transported himself to Miami Beach.

When he saw Thalia smile—albeit, a really tiny smile—at the large mouse plush toy that Triton had bought for her—he's just glad that the mouse is another one of his symbols—something inside him had snapped, and he wants to make it clear that Triton will not look, woo, touch or even attempt to do anything with her that doesn't show any friendship.

**Back with Thalia**

"You…really didn't need to buy me this," Thalia said as she squirmed uncomfortably with Triton's arm around her, all the while, squeezing the life out of the large mouse plush toy as a way to deal with her tenseness.

It just felt so _wrong_, having this guy's arm around her.

"I wanted to," Triton told her as he began leading her passed the play area for children, and heading in the direction of the water—for some reason, he has yet to show her this part of the palace, "I saw you looking at it, and I figured you wanted it," Thalia let out a tiny smile. She had indeed been looking at this plush toy, only because it reminded her of a certain…

Thalia mentally slapped herself.

You're supposed to be getting over him, _remember_! She thought.

The mouse is one of Apollo's symbols, and Thalia had made the mistake of looking at the large mouse toy a little longer than necessary.

"Uhh, thanks," Thalia replied uncertainly.

"Look out!" A young child's voice rang, and Thalia instinctively ducked in time when a soccer ball almost hit her and Triton.

A young girl looking no older than nine with wild auburn hair suddenly raced towards them, and picked up the soccer ball before looking at Thalia. She immediately recognized the silver—not grey, silver—eyes and saw that it was Artemis. A feeling of dread filled the pit of Thalia's stomach as she subconsciously clutched onto the large mouse in her arms.

Fortunately, Triton didn't seem to recognize Artemis.

"I'm really sorry about that," Artemis told them in her own childlike way, "And…can you take a look at my brother, he seems to be in pain…" She said as she looked at Thalia, all the while pointing at a sandy haired boy that looked about nine as well, sitting unhappily beneath a tree, just a little ways away, his bright green eyes seemed furious, and Thalia recognized him as Apollo.

_Why_! She thought unhappily, Why, Fates, why!

Thalia opened her mouth to say try and get someone else to take him to the hospital, but the look that Artemis gave her told her that she had to go.

"A-Alright," Thalia mentally slapped herself for her stutter. As she took her first step, Triton decided to say something.

"Hang on, I'll take a look at him—ow!" Artemis had taken the liberty to "accidentally" throw her soccer ball at Triton's…err…_kiwis_, and managed to do so discreetly.

"Oh my gosh, mister, I'm so sorry! Lemme take you to a nearby stand!" Artemis cried out, before dragging the whimpering Triton away from Thalia, leaving her on her own.

"She's a _really_ good actor," Thalia said as she blinked at Artemis's retreating form. A small grin broke out of her thoughts when she realized that she's on her own, and using this chance to get away from Apollo.

She turned on her heel, and was about to walk away when she came face to face with an angry looking Apollo.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Again, I'm really sorry for the really, really, really long wait.**

**Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase review!**


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